The Natural History Museum in Erfurt has been dedicated to Thuringia's flora and fauna for almost 100 years. A 350-year-old English oak tree towers over the four floors dedicated to the animals, plants and rocks of Thuringia, symbolizing both life and this museum. The Erfurt Natural History Museum has valuable and extensive natural history collections, which either came to the museum through donations or were completed through the museum's own research activities. Among the zoological collections, the entomological collection (insects) is the most extensive with around one million animals of at least 50,000 species. It contains numerous species (types) newly described for science. The main task is to maintain and expand this and other areas of the collection and to prepare them for scientific use.