It sure is warm here! Life and death in Messel

In this anniversary year of the Grube Messel bituminous shale pit, the “It sure is warm here! Life and death in Messel” exhibition has been added to the Grube Messel section of Senckenberg Naturmuseum Frankfurt. Here, from early December 2025 to the end of 2026, visitors can discover life as it was 47 million years ago. The focal point is a detailed miniature landscape model of the volcano crater lake of that era, delivering insights into life above and below the surface of the water. The Messel pit is regarded as a unique site for fossil finds: over 1,400 different life forms have been discovered here in an extraordinary state of preservation – from plants, fungi and insects to fish, reptiles and birds and even dinosaurs. Realistic models, original fossils and impressive reconstructions bring this “petrified ecosystem” to life, illustrating the biodiversity, climate, and food chains as well as the processes of birth and death in a remarkably warm primeval landscape.