HNHM is one of the outstanding institutions of the Hungarian cultural and scientific life. It is one of the largest natural history collections among the Central and Eastern European institutions, comprising more than 10.1 million items, among them 200,000 type specimens including 44,110 primary types. They hold the most important reference and historical collections for the entire Carpathian Basin, major portions of the Balkans, C, E and SE Asia. HNHM holds important 200-300 years old historical collections. The best represented areas are the Palaearctic, Oriental and Ethiopian biogeographic regions, and in case of soil animals also the tropical part of S America.
The collections are well organised so the desired specimens or taxa can easily be retrieved. The Bird, Mammal, Anthropological, Mineralogical, and parts of the Invertebrate collections were recently moved into state-of-the-art storage areas, which provide an excellent environment for preservation and improved the access to the collections.
The staff are leading experts in their fields thus represent rare or unique expertise in Europe, which is demonstrated by our involvement in establishing NATURA 2000 and National Biodiversity-monitoring System (NBmR), LIFE+ and LIFE IP programs, European fauna monographs, Balkan flora monographs, EU-COST Actions, etc. Consultation with phytosanitary and quarantine specialists is part of the HNHM core work.
The library with more than 300,000 volumes is the nationally recognized centre for natural history and it holds one of the most important archives for natural historians in Central and Eastern Europe.

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