Past and present animals, plants, fossils and minerals are exhibited at the University of Oslo's Natural History Museums of Geology, Mineralogy, Palaeontology, Zoology and Botany which, together with the Botanical Garden, are situated at the Tøyen campus in east Oslo. Each museum contributes extensively to scientific research at the University and all are extremely popular with tourists and the general public.

The Botanical Garden, covering roughly 150 acres, is an important research site and recreation area. Within the arboretum is the systematic garden with more than 1,800 plants, the medicinal and herbal gardens, the mountain garden, scent garden (for vision-impaired and handicapped visitors) and tropical gardens. The botanical museum has an extensive herbarium.

Norwegian minerals, rocks, ores and meteorites are displayed on the first and second floors of the Geology Museum. More than 50,000 registered specimens are in the museum, including rare pegmatite minerals from Norwegian syenites and granites. Specimens of Kongsberg silver are worthy of particular mention.

The Palaeontology Museum is housed in the same building and serves as the national treasure chest for more than 1.5 million fossils from Norway and abroad. Of interest are the displays of invertebrate fossils from the Oslo Region, including a giant marine scorpion. A dinosaur hall is also popular together with a display of mammoth remains found in Norway.

The Zoological Museum contains four main display areas: an introductory hall showing a wide variety of animals from all over the world, a national hall with animals from mainland Norway and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, a systematic hall and a geographic hall with a wide variety of animals from Norway and abroad.

The Zoological Museum boasts a zoological collection of Norwegian and international origin. There are systematic displays, a gallery of Norwegian wild life from sea level to mountain altitudes, birds’ nesting cliffs and displays of the natural life of Svalbard.