In the Palaeontology Hall, a very rare fossil is on display. It is an 84 cm long skeleton of a fish from the Triassic period, preserved in limestone. Its age is estimated to approximately 210 million years. The petrified fish most likely belongs to the Birgeriidae family. Similar specimens were only found at a handful of sites in Central Europe, North-Eastern Siberia, Madagascar and the Arctic region. It was discovered by geologists of the Geological Institute of Ljubljana during a survey of the Vrata valley. A piece of rock containing the fossil, weighing several tens of kilograms, was sawn out of a crumbling rockface along the Tominškova path to Triglav, brought down into the valley and then carefully restored.
Palaeontologists and geologists from the Geological Institute of Slovenia discovered the Triassic fish in one of the ravines above the Vrata valley. Prior to excavation, it was photographed and drawn. Today this specimen, which ranks among one of the most beautiful in the world, is on display in the Palaeontology Hall of the Slovenian Museum of Natural History. Archive material (with all photographic documentation) is kept at the Museum’s Department of Geology).