History

The original core of the earth sciences collections of the academic institutions in Zurich are collection assets of the Naturforschenden Gesellschaft of Zurich (est. 1746), which were acquired by the canton of Zurich and soon after integrated in the University of Zurich. After the foundation of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich the collections were administrated jointly by the University and the ETH until they were finally entrusted in the care of the ETH in 1909. From this point on the two main parts of the collections—the Geological and Palaeontological Collections on the one hand and the Mineralogical and Petrographical Collections on the other hand—have been curated by the Geological Institute and the Institute for Mineralogy and Petrology respectively.

After the original exhibition of earth science objects in the main building of the ETH during the 19th century, new building facilities allowed for the conception of a broad exhibition of many objects open to the public since 1925 in today's C floor of the NO building.

Since the conversion of the old NO building some major show cases of the collections of the Departement of Earth Sciences are now presented in focusTerra, the modern Earth & Science Discovery Center which spans four floors.