A look behind the scenes

For Andrea Thiele, the world is a great sea of colors. With her globes she shows the change of continents and landscapes on our planet: from forested plains in the Eocene to rocky mountains and vast deserts in the present.

Matthias Preuß and his colleagues sometimes search through a coniferous forest in search of the right exhibit. For the tree in the exhibition, the head taxidermist had certain criteria on his mind: it should be a species that forms resin and was already found in this form in the Eocene.

Before Matthias Preuß and his colleagues (here David Samuel Frys) prepare an animal, they study its physique and movements. The aim is to show animals as true to life as possible. In the case of the Gastornis, a large ratite of the Eocene, Matthias Preuß cannot exert any influence in terms of structure.

Every part of the Eocene exhibition is unique; every showcase, every pedestal, every text panel a custom-made piece. Martin Reinhardt is a carpenter in exhibition construction. He designs and builds the furniture. To do this, he selects materials and experiments when conventional techniques don't work.

Benjamin Frenzel lets it rip. His meteorite races through the museum foyer spitting sparks - apparently. The taxidermist captures the moment when a powerful meteorite entered the atmosphere 66 million years ago and caught fire. Its impact with the earth abruptly ended the era of the dinosaurs.

Is he about to bite? Julia Stoess has designed the pseudo-scorpion so lifelike that it looks like the real thing. The perfect illusion. Each of the artist's models is based on intensive research. But what about an extinct animal?