World tour of exhibit

On tour
The transport of the entire exhibition is no small matter. No less than 6,500 kg of show cases, carpeting, computers ... and fossils are involved. And all of this contained in 23 large, often extremely heavy, crates.

With a bit of adjustment, it appears to fit (but only just) in a 14 m long trailer truck or on three lower-deck pallets in a Boeing 767.

Some adjustments in Romania
In particular on the last stretch of one hundred metres, did the transport to Romania cause the truck driver to become wary. The gate to the formidable castle at Hunedoara was not designed to fit large, 20th-century trailer trucks.

But, after three days of hard work, the exhibits eventually were open to the public in the impressive hall of knights of the castle complex. In three months' time the exhibits attracted more than 60,000 visitors. The Romanian version of the virtual exhibition was also visited frequently.

On a safe trip through the air

End December 2000 the exhibit made its maiden flight. A certain tension was in the air: would everything fit the three reserved lowerdeck pallets? Down to the centimetre, it turned out ! Entirely according to plan, the exhibit was then put up at the New Jersey State Museum for the duration of three months.

After careful consideration with our American colleagues a number of spectacular fossils from the Maastrichtian was added to the exhibits. Most impressive was the 'dual presentation' of mosasaurs: two conspecific and contemporary species confronted each other (?once again) - it took only 65 million years .... .

From right to left
Between mid-February and the end of April, the Dinosaurs Ammonites & Asteroids exhibit was in Oman, at the Natural History Museum, Muscat. Thanks to the assistance of students of the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the Sultan Qaboos University, here again the entire exhibit was unpacked and put up within three days.

Naturally, during set-up, we duely considered the fact that Arabic texts are read from right to left, and that the 'logical route' (counter clockwise) through the exhibit should reflect this, in contrast to earlier venues. Reading the Arab leaflet took some time to get used to!

'Dinosaurs, Ammonites & Asteroids' featured in Muscat until the end of April. Tens of thousands of visitors admired a world new to them, the world of the Maastrichtian. In particular, numerous groups of school children were visibly impressed .

Maastricht-on-the-Vistula
The last stage of the tour took the exhibit to Kazimierz Dolny in Poland. It goes without saying that the virtual version of this exhibit on the Maastrichtian will remain available.
At Kazimierz, the Maastrichtian crops out along the banks of the River Vistula, in a way that closely resembles the Mount St. Pieter/Maas situation. Until the end of August the exhibit featured in the beautifully located Natural History Museum of Kazimierz.
From now on, the Polish version of the website that goes with the exhibit may be consulted.

The car park near the museum was filled almost every day. Young and old from the region came to the museum to gape in admiration not only at the spectacular pieces from Poland itself, but also at the smaller fossils from other parts of the world. And, of course, at the interactive information supplied by computer.