Collections | Jurassica Museum

In anticipation of the move, the collections are not currently visible

JURASSICA is tasked with managing and preserving the historical collections of the Jura Natural Science Museum and the living collections of the Porrentruy Botanical Garden. In the near future, JURASSICA will also host the paleontological and archeological finds unearthed during construction of the Transjurane motorway (A16). These represent several hundred thousand specimens.

Historical collections of the Jura Natural Science Museum (130,000 specimens in total)

Since the time of Jules Thurmann (1804–1855), the Jura collections have continued to grow through single donations as well as donations of entire collections comprising hundreds, even thousands, of specimens amassed over whole lifetimes. Major donors include the Chiarini, Montavon, Kauffmann and Juillerat families. Today, these historical collections contain almost 130,000 inventoried specimens.

Paleontological and mineral collections (50,000 specimens)
Zoological collections (40,000 lepidoptera and other preserved invertebrates, 1500 preserved vertebrates)
Botanical collections (35,000 plants)
Mycological collections (2,500 freeze-dried mushrooms)

Paléontologie A16 collections (45,000 specimens in total)

The excavations carried out as part of the construction work for the Transjurane motorway (A16) by the Paléontologie A16 (PAL A16) have revealed an exceptional geological and paleontological heritage dating for the most part from the Late Jurassic, Oligocene and Quaternary periods. Around 45,000 fossils have been catalogued. On the edge of the Courtedoux – Chevenez plateau alone, some 13,500 dinosaur footprints, 90 turtle shells, three crocodile skeletons and over 2,500 mammal remains were discovered.

Archéologie A16 and Archéologie Cantonale (almost a million relics in total)

The Archéologie A16 has undertaken a huge scientific research project. Countless surveys and 44 excavation sites along the Transjurane motorway unearthed almost 700,000 archeological remains (jewellery, stone artefacts, decorated pots, slag and more) dating from the Paleolithic (110,000 to 10,000 years ago) to the Middle Ages and even the early modern period.