Collections and research

The herbarium is the heart of the botanical collections. It contains more than 650,000 herbarium specimens, each of which documents the occurrence of a particular plant or fungus species in a specific place at a specific time.

Rocks are the archive of our earth. They tell us about changes over periods of time that are difficult for us humans to imagine. Geology - a science that thinks in terms of space and time - tries to make these changes comprehensible and demonstrate their significance for us humans. Fossils in particular, fossilized remains of primeval life, tell us about changes in living conditions, climate fluctuations and events, some dramatic, some continuous, that document a living history of the earth.

The basis of the mineralogical collection was Archduke Johann's private collection in 1811, the year the Joanneum was founded, which comprised several thousand exquisite pieces. Today, the collection has grown to around 100,000 objects.

Since the Joanneum was founded, collecting, researching and communicating have been among the main tasks of the staff of the Zoological Collection. Today, the focus is on the fauna of Styria.