The Muséum d’histoire naturel de Marseille, also known in English as the Natural History Museum of

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, is one of the most visited

natural history museums A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It was founded in 1819 by Jean-Baptiste, marquis de Montgrand and Christophe de Villeneuve-Bargemon,

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

of the

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( ; , ; ; "the Mouths of the Rhône") is a Departments of France, department in southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var (department), Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the sout ...

department. It is located in the

Palais Longchamp The Palais Longchamp () is a monument in the 4th arrondissement of Marseille, France. It houses both the Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille, Musée des beaux-arts and the Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille. The surrounding Longchamp Park (F ...

, 4th arrondissement of Marseille, built according to the plans of Henri-Jacques Espérandieu. Its museum abbreviation (used when giving identifiers to specimens) is MHNM.

History

The museum was created in 1819. It has been located at various places, including the Chapelle des Bernardines, before settling in 1869 at the Palais Longchamp, which it shares with the Musée des Beaux-Arts. The museum is now under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. It was classified as a museum of France in 2002.

Exhibitions

The museum houses 83,000 zoological specimens, 200, 000 botanical specimens, 81,000 fossils, and 8,000 mineral specimens. It was visited by 103,543 people in 2014.Fréquentation sur la plate-forme de données ouvertes du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
(in French). The four exhibitions areas are: *''Salle safari'' (world fauna): section concentrating on accidental imports through the port. *''Salle de Provence'' (regional fauna and flora): section concerning

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

wildlife. *''Salle d'ostéologie'':

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

. *''Salle de préhistoire, sur l'évolution'':

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

and

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

. The museum also organises conferences and temporary exhibitions. Its best known director was naturalist Antoine-Fortuné Marion (1846–1900), in office at the end of the 19th century.

References

External links

Site internet museum-marseille.org

sur le site de la mairie (town hall) 4th arrondissement of Marseille

Museums in Marseille Tourist attractions in Marseille category:Fossil museums in France History of Marseille {{France-museum-stub