What will become of Biotopia? Will it ultimately remain a utopia? The plans for the new natural history museum in Nymphenburg Palace have been on hold for more than a year. Despite extensive preparatory work, no funds were reserved for the construction project in the current state budget. When it will continue is uncertain. Nevertheless, Minister of Art Markus Blume (CSU) reassured the museum planners: “Biotopia has lost none of its charm, it is and remains an exciting project for education and science. However, given the drastically increased construction costs, the concept must be sharpened.” That means: You want to try to build cheaper, and possibly faster. There are still no clear statements as to how this should work.
Corona, energy crisis, increases in construction costs – the additional burdens on public budgets meant, according to the minister, “that all projects are currently being put to the test”. Therefore, no decision is currently expected. A modern natural history museum is important for the Bavarian educational landscape in the long term, and the prospect of being included as a research museum in the Leibniz Association is promising. Then, as with the Deutsches Museum, the federal government would contribute half of the costs.
For that to happen, however, the museum would first have to exist. Eleven years ago, the starting signal was given to expand the small Museum of Man and Nature. After years of discussions and a revised design by Staab Architekten, which won approval from the monument protection authority, the planning team submitted the project documents to the state building authority in summer 2021. There they rest gently. In the meantime, the cost framework – including the expected price increases, which will have an impact with every month of waiting – is 280 million euros.
According to the minister, one possible consideration is for the state to hand over the building project to private individuals. But it looks like there won’t be a quick decision. What does that mean for the more than 20-strong planning team? Some, whose contracts expire at the end of this year or in the course of next year, are worried about their future. She also reassured Blume: “We will find good solutions for everyone.”
Have big plans: Biotopia founding director Michael John Gorman (l.) and “Man and Nature” museum director Michael Apel at a previous meat festival. This time it’s all about the senses.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Founding director Michael John Gorman remains optimistic that he will see his museum open before he retires. He wants to create a living museum, it should take up current topics and become an interface between research, society, economy and politics. “Since I came to Munich from Dublin six years ago to set up Biotopia in this unique location, the importance of science and environmental communication has become more important than ever.” The corona pandemic and the climate crisis have shown how quickly misinformation spread. Knowledge about the extinction of species is also far from anchored in the public domain. “We have developed a concept for Biotopia that has garnered international recognition and interest at a time when there is a global effort to reinvent the natural history museum for the 21st century, the so-called biological century.”
The support group founded by Auguste von Bayern, daughter of the Wittelsbach family and renowned ornithologist, is also trying to collect more donations for the project. The activists have now collected almost eleven million euros. The aim is to double this amount. According to Auguste von Bayern, the delays are “of course not a pleasant situation for us, who have experienced so much enthusiasm for Biotopia for so many years and are eagerly awaiting the start of construction. Bavaria is thus losing valuable time, in which the Free State has long been national and international with Biotopia could shine internationally, and where children and citizens could benefit from Biotopia.” Her comrade-in-arms in the support group, Randolf Rodenstock, adds: “It would be extremely embarrassing if the project did not make progress now. For us, but above all for the state government. There have been discussions for eleven years, and the foundation stone has still not even been laid .” As an entrepreneur and former chairman of the Association of Bavarian Business, Rodenstock sees the innovative museum as an investment in the future. He considers the costs comparatively modest: the Berlin Natural History Museum is being renovated for 660 million euros, the Frankfurt Senckenberg Museum for 316 million.
The concept is still being discussed
The former Science Minister Wolfgang Heubisch (FDP) certifies the CSU, from whose ranks cross-shots against the architecture and content of Biotopia have repeatedly come in the past, a lack of sense for cultural innovations. He emphasizes that his group still stands by Biotopia. You shouldn’t save on culture, of all things – at a time when knowledge transfer and judgment are becoming increasingly important.
State parliament colleague Verena Osgyan is somewhat more skeptical about the green parliamentary group. She also emphasizes: “A modern, world-class natural history museum would be something.” However, she is not yet convinced of the concept presented so far. “In what form should school education be integrated? How are the experiments and digital innovations presented put into context? Do the overarching themes presented really promote awareness of species protection?”
Meanwhile, the Museum of Man and Nature will continue to operate. The ministry had already announced closure dates several times, which were then lifted again – not a pleasant work for the employees. The museum is popular, school classes come from all over Bavaria, but the building and its contents are in urgent need of renovation. It was temporary from the start. Because the decision for a modern natural history museum was made as early as 1970. According to the Prime Minister at the time, Alfons Goppel, it was supposed to “educate people about themselves, about their environment and about the dangers that technical civilization poses to nature.” There was an architectural competition, but then the realization failed due to lack of money. Half a century later, the provisional is still standing.
There will be another one on the weekend of October 1st and 2nd Biotopia Festival. This time it’s all about the senses – hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling. How does perception work in humans and animals? There are dozens of hands-on stations, experiments, lectures and art projects in the Museum Man and Nature, in the Hubertus Hall of Nymphenburg Palace, in the Botanical Garden and in the Biotopia Lab. You can put on a helmet and look around the corner like an insect, or listen to the CellF robot, which creates a neural network and uses it to produce sounds, in a duet with an opera singer. The Biotopia festivals take place every year during the construction period and are intended to give an insight into how the museum intends to present itself in the future. information below www.biotopia.net.