POLSKA AKADEMIA NAUK MUZEUM ZIEMI W WARSZAWIE

The Museum’s library belongs to the richest in Poland as far as Earth sciences are concerned. It contains more than 54 000 units including books and publications in the fields of: geology, museology of natural sciences, protection of inanimate nature and history of geological sciences, including exceptional collections of old publications, microfilms and maps. They all provide material for the purpose of scientific research conducted in the Museum of the Earth.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday: 9 a.m – 2.30 p.m.

Our archives present a separate position in the collections of the Museum. The vast documentation contains a valuable assemblage of original scientific materials inherited by many outstanding scientists, numerous biographies of Polish geologists, iconographic materials, manuscripts, collections of old geological and mining maps, as well as geological assortment of historical importance. Thus, the archives of the Museum of the Earth represent a valuable source for the studies concerning the history of geological sciences in Poland and evolution of geological ideas.

Our collection occupies a special position, among this kind of collections in the world, as it presents an exceptional scientific value and very high expositional quality. It contains more than 26 000 specimens, belonging to the largest natural collections of fossil resins in the world. For scientific studies the most important are both, the regional collection of Baltic amber and other fossil resins originating from various parts of the world as well as collection of organic – mostly animal – inclusions. Among them there are numerous holotypes – specimens described for the first time in scientific literature. For comparative studies recent resins and amber imitations are being collected.

However, amber is appealing not only to researchers. In Poland there is an old tradition of using this mineral in popular and decorative art. Therefore, products made of amber are also collected in our premises.

It is the drawing attention power of amber that opens up unlimited opportunities for popularizing numerous issues of natural sciences.

Paleozoological collections contain rich and diversified sets from different geological periods. The most valuable are collections of:

• specimens of Devonian fishes from the Świętokrzystkie Mountains;
• extremely well preserved, Jurassic, mostly ammonite fauna in spherosideritic concretions from Łuków;
• rich collections of invertebrate marine fauna e.g. Cretaceous brachiopods, echinoids and belemnites from south and central Poland, Tertiary molluscs, predominantly pelecypods and gastropods originating from outcrops in the south-east margin of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains as well as from outcrops in other parts of southern Poland, Podolia and Volhynia (currently in Ukraine);
• collection of Neogene bone breccias from Węże;
• fossil vertebrate collections of bone remains of Pleistocene mammals found in glacial deposits – e.g. numerous remains of mammoth, forest elephant, and rhinoceros.

All these collections are of high scientific value, usually representing documentation of investigations carried out mainly in Poland. Paleobotanical collections contain predominantly the valuable fossil Neogene, Cretaceous and Carboniferous floras. Our large collection of plant remains is of particular importance is (e.g. wood fragments, seeds, carbonized fruits, leaf impressions, pollen) from the now classical site of Neogene (Miocene) flora, which accompanies brown coal deposits in Turów near Bogatynia (south-west Poland), examined in detail and depicted in numerous publications.

For comparative studies recent plants, mainly from temperate and subtropical climate zones are being collected.