A visit of Heidecksburg Palace, the city crown of the former princely residence, offers you not only a magnificent journey through baroque and rococo, but also an excursion into natural history, into a time of the beginning sciences and natural history cabinets.
As it may have presented itself in its glory days at the end of the 18th century, part of the furnishings of the Princely Natural History Cabinet of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was reconstructed in 1994 with its own collection fund in a room on the upper floor of the north wing of Heidecksburg Palace. The number of individual pieces totals several thousand. Additional material (including beetles and butterflies, fossils) is hidden in the drawers of the cabinets. The bulging, seemingly confusing abundance of the nevertheless aesthetically presented collections including furniture was a characteristic of the natural history cabinets of the 17th and 18th centuries.
The reconstruction includes the following collections:
- Birds in small dioramas
- Insects and other arthropods
- Conchylia
- Fossils
- Rocks
- Minerals
- Fluid preparations
- Fishes (also dry preparations)
- Amphibians
- Reptiles
- Birds and mammals
- Skeletons and parts thereof of vertebrates
- Curiosities
- Woody plants
- Plant fruits
- Herbarium sheets
- Sponges
- Stone and leather corals
- Echinoderms and much more.
Museums house numerous objects that are not displayed in exhibitions and are stored in storage facilities. This applies primarily to scientific collections, but also to some of the exhibits. In walk-in storage facilities—known as exhibition storage—visitors can usually marvel at an extensive array of objects. However, the collections on display are not static, as certain exhibits may occasionally need to be removed for scientific research.
The holdings in the exhibition storage facility, established in 1994, were replaced in 2020. It features a wealth of bird and mammal species from around the world, allowing visitors to narrow their focus. The birds and mammals—specimens spanning nearly three centuries—not only illustrate the evolution of zoological taxidermy over time but also depict the evolutionary relationships among birds and mammals, without claiming to be exhaustive. Additionally, reptiles and amphibians are on display. A final room offers insights into the art of taxidermy.
Since the end of 2025, all exhibits in the public collection can be explored in depth using digital object labels! Several tablets available in the exhibition provide information on each individual animal. In addition, visitors can choose from five different discovery tours through the public collection—Prince Friedrich Karl personally guides visitors through the exhibition as a small digital avatar!
Where the order of nature dissolves and objects whisper, Neochimera creates new life forms from the past and algorithms, using light and sound. Neochimera creates a space of resonance and transformation at Heidecksburg Palace, centered on the historical collection of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Natural History Cabinet. It combines classical observation of nature with contemporary technology. With the help of specially trained artificial intelligence and generative algorithms, specimens, illustrations, and models from the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms are transformed into hybrid, constantly evolving life forms. An organic spectacle unfolds on the projection screen: crystals grow into plant-like structures, develop animal-like traits, and continue to transform ceaselessly. The visual language oscillates between artistic abstraction and scientific precision, evoking the chimeras of historical cabinets of curiosities. The installation is accompanied by a soundscape by composer Grischa Lichtenberger. Sounds from the three kingdoms of nature—the crackling of crystals, the rustling of leaves, and subtle animal calls—are deconstructed and reweaved. The result is an acoustic ecosystem that dissolves the boundaries between natural and artificial soundscapes.
Click the image above or HERE for a trailer of NeoChimera!
Robert Seidel lives and works in Berlin and Jena. His work spans the fields of experimental film, spatial installation, projection, sound art, and performance. In his artistic practice, Seidel explores the expansion of the boundaries of abstract beauty through cinematographic, scientific, and technological approaches. His works have been exhibited internationally on numerous occasions—including at the ZKM in Karlsruhe, the Art Center Nabi in Seoul, the Museum of Image and Sound in São Paulo, and the MOCA in Taipei.
Since December 6, 2025, the permanent exhibition has been supplemented by an interactive coral reef created as part of the HEIdigital project. The exhibition is based on the museum’s coral collection, which comprises nearly 1,000 objects. This collection dates back to the early days of the natural history cabinet, but historical specimens are also supplemented by modern finds from the D.H.H. Kühlmann Collection, which originate from diving expeditions beginning in the 1960s. Learn more about our collection, how it’s used, and its digitization in the exhibition, and explore the digital real-time reef to discover what corals are, how they live, and how they can be protected. There’s also a Fish Creator that lets creative minds of all ages bring their own fish to life in the reef. Give it a try!
The time has come: The new digitization technology has arrived at Heidecksburg. This enables our team to produce high-quality, consistent digitized images of the objects in our collection. With two stations, we can photograph so-called flat objects—meaning anything two-dimensional, such as paper—as well as three-dimensional objects. These photos are taken according to very specific guidelines to ensure consistent quality and comparability. This is because the digitized images will eventually be published via knowledge databases and made accessible worldwide.
We were looking for a location for our “Transparent Digitization Workshop” and found it in the vaulted hall of the north wing of Heidecksburg Castle. Since the exhibition elements “On the Trail of Rare Animals” and “HEIdigital” are also housed here, visitors can look over our shoulders during the digitization process on weekdays during opening hours. Don’t hesitate to ask our colleague in the digitization department any questions!