General Information

The Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle is devoted to both research and public diffusion of knowledge about nature and mankind’s interaction with our environment. It has branches throughout France, including the original location at the Jardin des Plantes, and administers two zoos: the Parc zoologique de Paris and the Parc zoologique de Clères.

History: Highlights

Formally founded during the French Revolution, Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle has its roots in the Royal Medicinal Plant Garden created by King Louis XIII in 1635. The royal proclamation of the boy-king Louis XV in 1718 removed the medical function and the garden focused on natural history. It had come to be known as the King’s Garden.

History: Explained

Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle was formally founded in 1793, during the French Revolution. However, its origins reach deeper into history, to the Jardin royal des plantes médicinales (Royal Medicinal Plant Garden) created by King Louis XIII in 1635, which was directed and run by the royal physicians.
For much of the 18th century, after the change in name and function, the garden was under the direction of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. One of the leading naturalists of the Enlightenment and an esteemed author, he brought international fame and prestige to the establishment.
The royal institution remarkably survived the French Revolution by being reorganised in 1793 as a republican Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. The transformation of the Jardin from the medicinal garden of the King to a national public museum of natural history required the creation of twelve chaired positions. Over the ensuing years the number of Chairs and their subject areas evolved, some being subdivided into two positions, while others were removed. The list of Chairs of the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle includes major figures in the history of the natural sciences. For instance, early chaired positions were held by the evolutionary pioneers Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, René Desfontaines, the eminent comparative anatomist Georges Cuvier, Paul Rivet, Léon Vaillant and others. The museum continued to flourish during the 19th century, and, particularly under the direction of chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul, became a rival to the University of Paris in scientific research. For example, during the period that Henri Becquerel held the chair for Applied Physics at the museum, he discovered the radiation properties of uranium.
In 1891 the museum returned to an emphasis on natural history. After receiving financial autonomy in 1907, it began a new phase of growth, opening facilities throughout France during the interwar years. In recent decades, it has directed its research and education efforts at the effects of human exploitation of the environment. In French public administration the museum is classed as a grand établissement of higher education.

Additional Information

The museum has seven main divisions: The Jardin des Plantes (a splendid botanical garden), the Grande Galerie de l’Evolution (the famous Grande Gallery of Evolution, currently closed for renovation), the Galeries de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie compare (Gallery of Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, which presents a collection of fossil vertebrates, including dinosaurs, and of invertebrates ), the galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie (Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology, which displays a collection of crystals, gemstones and minerals), the Ménagerie (a small zoo), the Musée de l’Homme (Museum of Man, an ethnographic museum, currently closed), the Paris zoo.