Open main menu

National Museum of Natural History, France

The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (abbreviation MNHN), is the natural history museum of France and a grand établissement of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum is located in Paris, on the left bank of the Seine. It was established in 1635 by King Louis XIII as the royal garden of medicinal plants, and in 1793, after the Revolution, it was reorganized in its present form and under its present title. As of 2017, the museum has 14 sites throughout France, including the original location at the Jardin des Plantes, which remains one of the seven departments of MNHN.

French National Museum of Natural History
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Grande galerie de l'évolution - L'intérieur du bâtiment.jpg
National Museum of Natural History, France is located in Paris
National Museum of Natural History, France
Location within Paris
EstablishedJune 10, 1793 (1793-06-10)
Location57 Rue Cuvier, Paris, France
Typenatural history museum
Collection size68 million specimens[1]
Visitors1.9 million per year
DirectorBruno David
Public transit accessJussieu Metro-M.svgParis m 7 jms.svgParis m 10 jms.svg
Place MongeMetro-M.svgParis m 7 jms.svg
Austerlitz RER.svg Paris RER C icon.svg
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle network






Origin of the collectionsEdit




Mission and organizationEdit


The research departments are:

The diffusion departments are:


Location and branchesEdit

The museum comprises fourteen sites[9] throughout France with four in Paris, including the original location at the Jardin des Plantes in the 5th arrondissement (métro Place Monge). The galleries open to the public are the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology, the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy, the Gallery of Botany, and the famous Gallery of Evolution (grande galerie de l'Évolution). The Paleontology and comparative Anatomy Gallery is a 540 million year journey and one of the highlights of the museum. It starts with the famous fossils from the Paleozoic Era from 540 to 250 million years ago, such as the gigantic Dunkleosteus. The Mesozoic Era, 250 to 65 million years ago, marks the golden age of the dinosaurs such as the Diplodocus, Iguanodon, Carnotaurus, Triceratops. One contemporary of these animals was Sarcosuchus, a giant crocodile with terrifying teeth. [10] The Muséum's Menagerie is also located in the Jardin des plantes.

The current Gallery of Botany, erected in 1935, is intended to preserve the vast herbarium of the museum. Referred to by code P, the herbarium includes a large number of important collections amongst its 8 million plant specimens. The historical collections incorporated into the herbarium, each with its P prefix, include those of Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (P-LA) René Louiche Desfontaines (P-Desf.), Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and Charles Plumier (P-TRF). The designation at CITES is FR 75A. It publishes the botanical periodical Adansonia and journals on the flora of New Caledonia, Madagascar, and Comoro Islands, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, Cameroon, and Gabon.[11]


Also part of the museum are:




In popular cultureEdit

The Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy and other parts of Jardin des Plantes was a source of inspiration for French graphic novelist Jacques Tardi. The gallery appears on the first page and several subsequent pages of Adèle et la bête (Adèle and the Beast; 1976), the first album in the series of Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec. The story opens with a 136-million-year-old pterodactyl egg hatching, and a live pterodactyl escaping through the gallery glass roof, wreaking havoc and killing people in Paris (the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy returned the favor by placing a life size cardboard cutout of Adèle and the hatching pterodactyl in a glass cabinet outside the main entrance on the top floor balcony).



Directors elected for one year:

Directors elected for two years:

Directors elected for five years:

Presidents elected for five years:



See alsoEdit


  1. ^ "Management and preservation of the collections". Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  9. ^ Implantations, site of the MNHN
  10. ^ "Natural History Museum Paris". Paris Digest. 2018. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  12. ^ Bruno David - Muséum national d'histoire naturelle

External linksEdit