Who we are
Everyone may, no one has to.
The Lithothek came into being in 2001 from a simple question: what becomes of a life’s work when its collector is no longer there? The answer was a collection that belongs not to one individual but to a community – in keeping with the motto “Everyone may, no one must”.
Our mission: to preserve life’s work, to offer collectors a legacy, and to keep expanding the Lithothek as a freely accessible resource for education and research.
“The purpose of the company is to promote public education in the fields of mineralogy, economic geology, geology, palaeontology and mining.”
Our history
The Lithothek emerges from the working group of the Munich Micromounters within the Münchener Mineralienfreunde e.V. The underlying idea: what becomes of the collections when their collectors are no longer there? The notion that a collection could belong to a community rather than to an individual was unfamiliar to many – but in keeping with the motto “Everyone may, no one must” enough fellow supporters came forward who saw more security in the care of a group than in the fate of a single collector.
The founding group of Dorothea Kulicke, Erwin Schuhbauer, Manfred Seitz and Peter Köhlen gives their finest specimens to the Lithothek. Klaus Fleck, having given up his mineral dealership, donates his entire stock to the Micromounters. The idea soon spreads beyond the group as well – Klaus-Dieter Bausch travels to Munich specially to contribute his collection together with its photographs. To date, more than 400 collectors from around the world have taken part.
The Lithothek gets a home: since 2008 the Micromounters have worked at its present base, the “Stufenheim”. Several times a week, interested people meet here to work on the collection and pursue their shared hobby.
The Lithothek is brought into Geolitho Stiftung gGmbH and thus, for the first time, gains a legally secure framework for its long-term existence. It continues to thrive.
Dr. Manfred Seitz finds his successor and a new custodian for the Lithothek. In November 2025, Matthias Fieser takes over the management.
The Lithothek is transferred into an independent non-profit company. The new framework makes it possible, alongside steady growth, to take on new projects such as photography and analysis, and to continue steadily advancing cooperation with museums, universities, schools and associations such as the Münchener Mineralienfreunde e.V. The new website makes the collection accessible to everyone, within its own setting, for the first time – viewable from anywhere in the world, every specimen documented, and open to analysis by a range of criteria.
As of 31 October 2026
These figures make the Lithothek one of the most extensive micromount collections in the world.
The people behind it
The Lithothek lives on people who contribute knowledge, time and care – in identifying, recording, photographing and preserving specimens.
Former managing director
until 2025
Long-standing head of the Lithothek from its beginnings in 2001 until 2025 – inducted into the Micromounters’ Hall of Fame of the Baltimore Mineral Society in 2026.
Managing director
since 2025
Has run the Lithothek as managing director since 2025 and is responsible for its course as an independent non-profit company.
We pay tribute to the collectors whose specimens make up the Lithothek in our supporter profiles.