Burgomaster Mueller Museum

Friedrich Müller, who served as mayor of Solnhofen in the fifties of the XX century, for many years collected a collection of fossils from local quarries, where layered limestone was mined. In the early days of the Jurassic period, this area was the bottom of the ocean. Due to the high concentration of salt in its waters, dead animals, mollusks and plants were “preserved” and eventually covered with layers of lime bottom sediments. As a result, unique samples of ancient flora and fauna have survived, thanks to which modern scientists were able to fill the gaps in the evolutionary chain of life on Earth.

The main treasure of the museum is the remains of ancient birds of Archaeopteryx, which are an intermediate link between reptiles and birds. Various crustaceans, cephalopods (squid, ammonites and belemnites) and echinoderms are widely represented in the collection. Moreover, their stone prints are so detailed that they give a complete picture of their appearance.

The second floor of the museum is dedicated to the use of local stone in printing. In 1798, Alois Sonefelder, having discovered the property of limestone mined here to layer with the formation of an exceptionally flat surface, invented a lithographic method of printing. The museum presents samples of printed products created in this way, including the world's largest stamp, entered in the Guinness Book of Records.