A whale relocation takes place in Freiburg at the end of August

The journey from the old to the new location on Zeughausstrasse is comparatively short at around 600 meters, but it is likely to be a tough one. According to a press release on Tuesday, the museum managers spoke of an "unparalleled conservation, technical and logistical challenge". Because space is tight, openings are needed in the masonry to be able to move the specimen.

Work on the new museum location on Zeughausstrasse is currently still underway. The historic building is being renovated and extended. From the end of 2028, it will house a completely new permanent exhibition. Well over a thousand objects from the collections will have to be prepared, restored, packed and moved. The whale will be the first of the objects to move into the new museum.

The animal, which was stranded in Le Havre in France in 1852, found its way into the collection of the Natural History Museum in Fribourg in 1882 via an adventurous route, as the institution writes in its press release. The historical specimen is one of very few comparable objects in the world.

The whale "Züglete" is to take place at the end of August. The exact date has not yet been set. The whale already has relocation experience: back in 1897, when the Natural History Museum moved to its current location in the Pérolles quarter, the specimen caused the museum's managers at the time quite a few headaches.

In 2023, the voters of Fribourg clearly said yes to a loan of 65.5 million francs to move the museum to the former arsenal.