Museum of seismology

The Museum of seismology is located in the former seismological station of Strasbourg. In the late nineteenth century, seismology starts as an observational science. In 1889, a German physicist, Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz, builds in Potsdam an instrument for measuring the vibrations of the Earth. On April 17, the device records a signal corresponding to a Japanese earthquake.

In 1892, Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz comes to Strasbourg where the university is under construction. He is working at the astronomical observatory and its equipment is installed in the basement. On 19 December, the instrument records an earthquake that occurred in Baluchistan near Pakistan.

It is then decided to create a seismological observatory at Strasbourg. It will be inaugurated in 1900 as the "Central Seismological Station of the German Empire." One hundred years later, the station became a museum which displays the seismometers of the old observatory.

The museum hosts a collection of seismometers, illustrating the technological evolution of seismometry since the late nineteenth century. Educational and historical presentations, posters and documents give the visitor a glimpse of geophysics, seismology and terrestrial magnetism.

The seismology museum is open every Wednesday from 3pm to 7pm until the Christmas holidays.