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Inauguration of the historical mineralogy museum in Tsumeb
from left to right - Prof Thomas Böllinghaus, Jens Frautschy, Matheus Hangula, Andreas Götze in front of the entance to the renovated building., © German Embassy, Windhoek
On March 3rd, the inauguration of the renovated historic mineralogy building on the old mine site in Tsumeb took place in the presence of the Mayor of Tsumeb, Matheus Hangula, as well Dr. Thomas Böllinghaus from the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Benedicta Uris for Dundee Precious Metal, Jens Frautschy from the Museum Tsumeb and Dr. Götze, Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy in Windhoek.
As part of the Federal Foreign Office’s cultural preservation program, the German Embassy, Windhoek availed 15,000 Euros to the Tsumeb Museum for the repair of the historic mineralogy building (built in 1950) for later use as a museum and for the preservation and safeguarding of the existing sample and map archives.
In April 2021 it was decided by the National Heritage Council of Namibia and the Tsumeb Municipality to develop the historic mine site in Tsumeb as a national heritage site. Since then, various partners such as the Tsumeb Museum, Dundee Precious Metal, the Berlin University of Applied Sciences and the Federal Institute for Materials Research have been working on the implementation of this plan with financial support from the Federal Foreign Office and other institutions in Germany.
The former historic mine site offers ideal conditions for conveying knowledge about the important geological, mineralogical and historical aspects that make up the Tsumeb Mine and the mining town of Tsumeb. In the historic mineralogy building, where world-renowned mineralogists such as John Innes, Bruno H. Geier and Hugo Strunz worked, more important and extremely rare new type minerals were discovered and identified than anywhere else in the world. The restored mineralogy can thus make an important contribution to communicating the natural-historical and industrial-cultural importance of the place to the young population of Namibia, a country which is rich in natural resources.
