Opening of the new special exhibition: “Rocky Roads to Life”

On March 13, 2025, the new special exhibition “Rocky Roads to Life” was opened at the RiesKraterMuseum with well over a hundred guests.

The special exhibition was developed by the RiesKraterMuseum. It aims to show unusual paths to a deeper understanding of life in dialog with the stones and to raise awareness of the fact that the geosphere and biosphere have been closely linked and connected by constant change since the beginning of life.Introductory words by the museum director Prof. Stefan Hölzl were followed by words of welcome from the second mayor of the town of Nördlingen, Rita Ortler, and the Director General of the Bavarian State Collections of Natural History, Prof. Joris Peters.

An overview of the background, structure and significance of the exhibition was given by PD Dr. Frank Trixler, responsible for the conception, curation and texts of the exhibition. William Orsi, Professor of Geomicrobiology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, then spoke about his research on deep-sea vents and their significance in connection with theories on the origin of life. His doctoral student, Vanessa Helmbrecht, who produced the exhibits on the topic “Origin of life in the deep sea”, demonstrated the cultivation of these exhibits in the laboratory during the subsequent tour of the exhibition and answered questions from the guests.