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The French National Museum of Natural History, known in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national
natural history museum 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 ...
of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, France, within the Jardin des Plantes on the left bank of the River
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plate ...
. It was formally founded in 1793 during the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, but was begun even earlier in 1635 as the royal garden of medicinal plants. The museum now has 14 sites throughout France.


History


17th–18th century

File:Jardin du roi 1636.png, The Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants in 1636 File:Buffon statue dsc00979.jpg, Statue of
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent F ...
in the formal garden File:Buffon, Georges Louis - Leclerc, comte de – Histoire naturelle, générale et particuliére, 1763 – BEIC 8822844.jpg, Buffon's "Natural History" (1763) File:MNHN-logo.jpg, The museum's seal, designed in 1793, illustrates the three realms of Nature, Collective work, and the French Revolution.
The museum was formally established on June 10, 1793, by the French Convention, the government during the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, at the same time that it established the Louvre Museum. But its origins went back much further, to the Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants, which was created by King Louis XIII in 1635, and was directed and run by the royal
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
s. A royal proclamation of the boy-king
Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
on 31 March 1718, removed the purely medical function. Besides growing and studying plants useful for health, the royal garden offered public lectures on botany, chemistry, and comparative anatomy. In 1729 the chateau in the garden was enlarged with an upper floor, and transformed into the cabinet of natural history, designed for the royal collections of zoology and mineralogy. A series of greenhouses were constructed on the west side of the garden, to study the plants and animals collected by French explorers for their for medical and commercial uses. From 1739 until 1788, the garden was under the direction of
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent F ...
, one of the leading naturalists of the
Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
. Though he did not go on scientific expeditions himself, he wrote a monumental and influential work, "Natural History", in thirty-six volumes, published between 1749 and 1788. In his books, he challenged the traditional religious ideas that nature had not changed since the creation; he suggested that the earth was seventy-five thousand years old, divided into seven periods, with man arriving in the most recent. He also helped fund much research, through the iron foundry which he owned and directed. His statue is prominently placed in front of the Gallery of Evolution. Following the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
the museum was reorganized, with twelve professorships of equal rank. Some of its early professors included eminent comparative anatomist
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...
and the pioneers of the theory of evolution. Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. The museum's aims were to instruct the public, put together collections and conduct scientific research. The naturalist Louis Jean Marie Daubenton wrote extensively about biology for the pioneer French
Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...
, and gave his name to several newly discovered species. The museum sent its trained botanists on scientific expeditions around the world. Major figures in the museum included Déodat de Dolomieu, who gave his name to the mineral dolomite and to a volcano on Reunion island, and the botanist Rene Desfontaines, who spent two years collecting plants for study Tunisia and Algeria, and whose book "Flora Atlantica" (1798–1799, 2 vols), added three hundred genera new to science. When
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
launched his military campaign Egypt in 1798, his army was accompanied by a 154 scientists, including botanists, chemists, mineralogists, including Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Vivant Denon, Joseph Fourier, and Claude Louis Berthollet, who together took back a large quantity of specimens and illustrations to enrich the collections of the museum.


19th century

File:Jardin des plantes.jpg, Plan of the Jardin des Plantes and its buildings in 1820 File:Becquerel plate.jpg, The photographic plate of
Henri Becquerel Antoine Henri Becquerel (; 15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pi ...
, the first documented evidence of the radioactivity of uranium (1896) File:Maison Singes MJP.jpg, Crowd outside the Palace of the Apes (c. 1900) in the Jardin des Plantes
The museum continued to flourish during the 19th century, particularly under the direction of
chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe ...
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
, His research with animal fats revolutionized the manufacture of soap and of candles and led to his isolation of the heptadecanoic (margaric), stearic, and
oleic Oleic acid is a fatty acid that occurs naturally in various animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is an odorless, colorless oil, although commercial samples may be yellowish. In chemical terms, oleic acid is classified as a monounsaturated omega ...
fatty acid In chemistry, particularly in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, ...
s. In the medical field, he was first to demonstrate that diabetics excrete
glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, usi ...
. and to isolate creatine. His theories of color "provided the scientific basis for Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painting."
Henri Becquerel Antoine Henri Becquerel (; 15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pi ...
held the chair for Applied Physics at the ' (1892–1908). By wrapping uranium salts in photographic paper, he first demonstrated the radioactive properties of
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly ...
. In 1903, he shared the
Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
with
Pierre Curie Pierre Curie ( , ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, and Henri Becq ...
and
Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...
for the discovery of spontaneous radioactivity. Four generations of Becquerels held this chairmanship, from 1838 to 1948. As its collections grew, the museum was enlarged, with the construction of a new gallery of zoology. it was begun in 1877 and completed in 1889, for the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. A new gallery of paleontology and comparative anatomy was opened in 1897. The cost of construction Drained the museum budget and it began to run short of funds. Its emphasis on teaching brought it into conflict with the
University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...
, which had better political connections. It gradually scaled back its program of teaching and focused primarily on research and the museum collections.


20th–21st century

After receiving greater financial autonomy in 1907, it began a new phase of growth. In 1934, the museum opened the Paris Zoological Park, a new zoo to in the Bois de Vincennes, as the home for the larger animals of the Menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes. In 1937 it opens the Musée de l'Homme, a museum of anthropology located in Palais de Chaillot, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, in a building created for the 1937 Paris International Exposition. In recent decades, it has directed its research and education efforts at the effects on the environment of human exploitation. In French public administration, the ' is classed as a ' of higher education. Some of the buildings, particularly the Grand Gallery of Evolution, completed in 1889, were in poor condition by the mid-20th century. It was closed entirely in 1965, then underwent major restoration between 1991 and 1994 to its present state.


Plan


Galleries and gardens

The birthplace of the museum and a large part of its modern collections are found in five galleries in the Jardin des Plantes. These are the Gallery of Evolution; the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology; the Gallery of Botany; the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy and the Laboratory of Entomology.


The Grand Gallery of Evolution

File:Paris 75005 Grande Galerie de l'Evolution 20070804.jpg, Garden facade of the Grand Gallery of Evolution File:Great gallery of evolution, Paris 1 July 2015.jpg, Interior of the Grand Gallery of Evolution File:MNHN grande galerie de l'Évolution 2014.jpg, Parade of African mammals File:Gypaetus barbatus 01 by Line1.JPG, A stuffed bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) File:Giant squid.jpg, A plastified
giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family (biology), family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of deep-sea gigantism, abyssal gigantism: recent estimates ...
, nine meters long, in the Gallery of Evolution
The National Museum of Natural History has been called "the Louvre of the Natural Sciences." Its largest and best-known gallery is the Grand Gallery of Evolution, located at the end of the central alley facing the formal garden. It replaced an earlier Neoclassical gallery built next to the same by Buffon, opened in 1785, and demolished in 1935. It was proposed in 1872 and begun in 1877 by the architect Louis-Jules André, a teacher at the influential
École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...
in Paris. It is a prominent example of Beaux Arts Architecture. It was opened in 1889 for the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889, which also presented the
Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nickname ...
. It was never fully completed in its original design; it never received the neoclassical entrance planned for the side of the building away from the garden, facing Rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire. The facade of the building was designed specifically as a backdrop for the garden. The facade facing the garden is divided into eleven traverses. Ten are decorated with sculpted medallions honouring prominent French scientists associated with the museum. The central traverse has a larger marble statue of a woman seated holding a book, in a pose similar to that of statue of Buffon facing the building. The statues are the work of Eugene Guillaume, a pupil of the sculptor Pradier. While the building exterior was neo-classical, the iron framework of the interior was extremely modern for the 19th century, like that of the Gare d'Orsay railroad station of the same period. It contained an immense rectangular hall, 55 meters long, 25 wide and 15 meters high, supported by forty slender cast-iron columns, and was originally covered with a glass roof one thousand square meters in size.The building suffered from technical problems, and was closed entirely in 1965. It was extensively remodelled between 1991–94 and reopened in its present form. The great central hall, kept in its same form but enlarged during the modernisation, is devoted to the presentation of marine animals on the lower sides, and, on a platform in the center, a parade of full-size African mammals, including a
rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family (biology), family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member ...
originally presented to King Louis XV in the 18th century. On the garden side is another hall, in its original size, devoted to animals which have disappeared or are in danger of extinction.


Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology

File:La galerie de géologie du jardin des plantes à Paris.jpg, Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology File:Malachite and azurite Morenci MNHN Minéralogie n1.jpg, Examples of malachite and
azurite Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic car ...
, donated by J.P. Morgan in 1903 File:Or natif et quartz Californie.jpg, Native gold and quartz from California File:Quartz Uruguay dation Caillois.jpg,
Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
from Uruguay File:Amethyst Siberia MNHN Minéralogie.jpg, Amethyst from
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...
File:Météorite Canyon Diablo.JPG, Fragment of the Canyon Diablo Meteorite which created Meteor Crater in Arizona
The Gallery of Mineralogy, looking across the formal garden and close to the Gallery of Evolution, was constructed between 1833 and 1837 by Charles Rohault de Fleury in a neoclassical style, with two porticos of Doric columns. Directly in front is the rose garden, renewed in 1990 with 170 types of European roses, as well as a Styphnolobium japonicum or Japanese pagoda tree, planted there by Bernard de Jussieu in 1747. The gallery contains over 600,000 stones and fossils. It is particularly known for its collection of giant crystals, including colourful examples of
azurite Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic car ...
,
Tourmaline Tourmaline ( ) is a crystalline silicate mineral group in which boron is compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is a gemstone and can be found in a wide variety of colors. ...
(Rubelite), Malachite and Ammonite. Other displays include the jars and vestiges of the original royal apothecary of Louis XIV, and three Florentine marble marquetry tables from the palace of Cardinal Mazarin. The gallery also contains a large collection of meteorites, gathered from around the world. These include a large fragment of Canyon Diablo meteorite, a piece of an
asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...
which fell in Arizona about 550,000 years ago, and created the Meteor crater. It weighs 360 kilograms (970 pounds).


Gallery of Botany

File:Galerie de Botanique rue Buffon à Paris le 22 février 2018 - 1.jpg, The Gallery of Botany. At left is the Robinia pseudoacacia, one of the oldest two trees in Paris, planted in 1635 by Vespasien Robin File:MNHN-bota-7.jpg, Slice of a giant Sequoia tree in the Gallery of Botany File:Nepenthes mirabilis herbarium specimen.jpg, Specimen of Nepenthes mirabilis, (tropical pitcher plant) from Southeast Asia, one of 7.5 million plants in the Herbier National File:Coffea guianensis Aubl. s.n. MNHN P-P00777933.jpg, "Coffea guianensis", Coffee plant from Guyana, collected by
Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet (November 4, 1720 – May 6, 1778) was a French pharmacist, botanist and one of the earliest botanical explorers in South America.JSTOR He was one of the first botanists to study ethnobotany in the Neo ...
in 1775
The Gallery of Botany is on the Allée the Buffon facing the centre of the garden, between the Gallery of Mineralogy and the Gallery of Paleontology. At the corner is one of the two oldest trees in Paris, a Robinia pseudoacacia or black locust, planted in 1635 by Vespasien Robin, the royal gardener and botanist, from an earlier tree brought from America by his brother, also a botanist, in 1601. It is tied in age with another from the same source planted at the same time on the square of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre. The Gallery was built in 1930–35 with a grant from the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Ca ...
. Directly in front is a statue entitled "Science and Mystery" by J.L.D. Schroeder, made in 1889. It represents the enigma of and old man meditating over an egg and a chicken, pondering which came first. The primary content of the gallery is the Herbier National, a collection representing 7.5 million plants collected since the founding of the muuseum. They are divided for study into
Spermatophytes A spermatophyte (; ), also known as phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds, hence the alternative name seed plant. Spermatophytes are a subset of the embryophytes or land plants. They inc ...
, plants which reproduce with seeds, and cryptogams, plants which reproduce with spores, such as
algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from ...
, lichens and
mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is th ...
. Many of the plants were collected by
Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet (November 4, 1720 – May 6, 1778) was a French pharmacist, botanist and one of the earliest botanical explorers in South America.JSTOR He was one of the first botanists to study ethnobotany in the Neo ...
, the royal pharmacist and botanist in
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
. In 1775 he published his "Histoire des plantes de la Guiane Française" describing 576 genera and 1,241 species of neotropical plants, including more than 400 species that were new to science, at a time when only 20,000 plants had been described, The ground floor interior of the gallery has vestibules built in a combination of Art Deco and Neo-Egyptian styles. It is used for temporary exhibits. The exhibits include a slice of a giant Sequoia tree, 2200 years old, which fell naturally in 1917.


The Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy

File:Façade principale de la galerie de Paléontologie.jpg, Facade of the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy File:Galerie paleontologie entrance mnhn paris.jpg, Relief sculpture and ironwork on the entrance of the gallery File:Museum of Natural History, Paris August 2013 002.jpg, Dinosaur gallery File:Lebka tyranosaura.jpg, Skull cast of a
Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
File:Aepyornis frontNeu.jpg, Skeleton of an Aepyornis, or Elephant Bird File:Cynthiacetus peruvianus skull.JPG, Jaw of a Cynthiacetus, an early whale, from Peru File:MammuthusMeridionalis1.jpg, Skeleton of a
Southern Mammoth ''Mammuthus meridionalis'', or the southern mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth native to Europe and Central Asia from the Gelasian stage of the Early Pleistocene, living from 2.5–0.8 mya. Taxonomy The taxonomy of extinct elep ...
The Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy was built between 1894 and 1897 by architect Ferdinand Dutert, who had built the innovative iron-framed Galerie des machines at the
1889 Paris Exposition The Exposition Universelle of 1889 () was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 5 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fourth of eight expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. The ...
. A new pavilion in the same style was added to the west side of the gallery; it was completed in 1961. In front of the Gallery is the Iris Garden, created in 1964, which displays 260 varieties of iris flowers, and a sculpture, "Nymph with a pitcher" (1837) by Isidore Hippolyte Brion. The sides of gallery are also decorated with sculpture; twelve relief sculptures of animals in bronze and fourteen medallions of famous biologists. The ironwork grill and stone arches over the entrance are filled with elaborate designs and sculpture of seashells. Inside the entrance is a large marble statue of an
Orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the gen ...
strangling a hunter, created in 1885 by the noted animal sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet, best known for his statue of
Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the corona ...
on horseback on the
Place des Pyramides Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Often ...
in Paris.


Jardin des Plantes

The Jardin des plantes is the home of the main galleries of the National Museum of Natural History, and a division of the museum, which was born there. The garden was founded by Louis XIII 1635 as the Royal Garden of medicinal plants, under the direction of the royal physician. In the early 18th century, the chateau of the gardens was enlarged to house the collections of the royal pharmacist. In 1729, this collection was broadened into the Cabinet of Natural History, destined to receive the Royal collections dedicated to zoology and mineralogy. New plants and animal species were collected from around the world, examined, illustrated, classified, named and described in publications which were circulated across Europe and to America. An amphitheater was constructed in the garden in 1787 to provide a venue for lectures and classes on the new discoveries. New greenhouses were built beginning in 1788, and the size of the gardens was doubled. The gardens served as the laboratory of scientists including Jean Baptiste Lamarck, author of the earliest theory of evolution, and were a base for major scientific expeditions by Nicolas Baudin,
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...
, Jules Dumont d'Urville and others throughout the 18th and 19th century. The gardens today include a large formal garden planted in geometric designs; and two enormous greenhouses, keeping tropical plants at a steady temperature of 22 degrees Celsius. The Alpine gardens present plants coming from Corsica, the Caucasus, North American and the Himalaya. The gardens of the School of Botany contain 3,800 species of plants, displayed by genre and family.


Ménagerie of the Jardin des Plantes

File:RotondeOuest1.JPG, The Rotunda of the Menagerie File:Flamants roses - Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes.jpg, Pink flamingoes in the Menagerie File:Enclos Mangouste Menagerie.jpg, Enclosure for Mongooses File:Panthères de Chine.JPG, Amur leopards The Menagerie is the second-oldest public zoo in the world still in operation, following the Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, Austria, founded in 1752. It occupies the northeast side of the garden along the Quai St. Bernard, covering five hectares (13.6 acres). It was created between 1798 and 1836 as a home for the animals of the royal menagerie at Versailles, which were largely abandoned after the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
. Its architecture features picturesque "fabriques", or pavilions, mostly created in the 19th century, to shelter the animals. In the 20th century the larger animals were moved to the Paris Zoological Park, a more extensive site in the Bois de Vincennes. also governed by the National Museum of Natural History. The menagerie is currently home to about six hundred mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, representing about 189 species. These include the Amur leopard from China, one of the rarest cats on earth.


Mission and organization

The museum has as its mission both research (fundamental and applied) and public diffusion of knowledge. It is organized into seven research and three diffusion departments. The research departments are: * Classification and Evolution * Regulation, Development, and Molecular Diversity * Aquatic Environments and Populations *
Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...
and
Biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity' ...
Management *
History of Earth The history of Earth concerns the development of planet Earth from its formation to the present day. Nearly all branches of natural science have contributed to understanding of the main events of Earth's past, characterized by constant geolog ...
* Men, Nature, and Societies, and *
Prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...
The diffusion departments are: * The Galleries of the ' * Botanical Parks and Zoos, and * The Museum of Man (') The museum also developed higher education, and now delivers a master's degree.


Location and branches

The museum comprises fourteen sites throughout France with four in Paris, including the Jardin des Plantes in the 5th arrondissement. ( métro
Place Monge Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse (9 May 1746 – 28 July 1818) was a French mathematician, commonly presented as the inventor of descriptive geometry, (the mathematical basis of) technical drawing, and the father of differential geometry. During ...
). The
herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (calle ...
of the museum, referred to by code P, includes a large number of important collections amongst its 8 000 000 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 Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (5 June 165628 December 1708) was a French botanist, notable as the first to make a clear definition of the concept of genus for plants. Botanist Charles Plumier was his pupil and accompanied him on his voyages. Lif ...
and Charles Plumier (P-TRF). The designation at CITES is FR 75A. It publishes the botanical periodical '' Adansonia'' and journals on the
flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...
of New Caledonia, Madagascar and Comoro Islands, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, Cameroon, and Gabon. The ' is also in Paris, in the
16th arrondissement The 16th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''seizième''. The arrondissement includes part of the Arc de Tr ...
( métro
Trocadéro The Trocadéro (), site of the Palais de Chaillot, is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It is also the name of the 1878 palace which was demolished in 1937 to make way for the Palais ...
). It houses displays in ethnography and physical anthropology, including artifacts,
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s, and other objects. Also part of the museum are: * Three zoos, the Paris Zoological Park (', also known as the '), at the ' in the 12th arrondissement, the
Cleres Zoological Park Cleres Zoological Park (Parc Zoologique De Clères) is located in Clères, north of Rouen, France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions ...
('), at a
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
manor in
Clères Clères () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography A farming and forestry market town situated by the banks of the Clérette river, in the Pays de Caux, some northeast of Ro ...
( Seine-Maritime) and the ' in Obterre (
Indre Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...
), the largest in France, * Three botanical parks, the ' in Rocquencourt next to the ', the ' and the ' in
Samoëns Samoëns () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is the principal commune for the canton which bears its name. The town of Samoëns is located in the Vallée du Giffre (Gif ...
, * Two museums, the ' in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac and the ' in Sérignan-du-Comtat, * Four scientific sites, the ' in Paris, the ', the ' and the ' in Dinard.


Chairs

The transformation of the ' 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 and others removed. The list of Chairs of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle includes major figures in the history of the Natural sciences. Early chaired positions were held by
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolog ...
, René Desfontaines and
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...
, and later occupied by Paul Rivet, Léon Vaillant and others.


In popular culture

The Gallery of Palaeontology 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 and the Beast''; 1976), the first album in the series of '. 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 Palaeontology 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 of the museum

Directors elected for one year: * 1793 to 1794 : Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton * 1794 to 1795 :
Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (
Bernard Germain Étienne de Laville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède * 1796 to 1797 : Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton * 1797 to 1798 : Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton * 1798 to 1799 :
Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (
Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (
Antoine-François Fourcroy * 1802 to 1803 : René Desfontaines * 1804 to 1805 : Antoine-François Fourcroy * 1806 to 1807 : René Desfontaines * 1808 to 1809 :
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...
* 1810 to 1811 : René Desfontaines * 1812 to 1813 : André Laugier * 1814 to 1815 :
André Thouin André Thouin (10 February 1747 – 24 October 1824) was a French botanist. Thouin studied botany under Bernard de Jussieu, and in 1793 attained the chair of horticulture at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. He was a goo ...
* 1816 to 1817 :
André Thouin André Thouin (10 February 1747 – 24 October 1824) was a French botanist. Thouin studied botany under Bernard de Jussieu, and in 1793 attained the chair of horticulture at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. He was a goo ...
* 1818 to 1819 : André Laugier * 1820 to 1821 : René Desfontaines * 1822 to 1823 :
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...
* 1824 to 1825 : Louis Cordier * 1826 to 1827 :
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...
* 1828 to 1829 : René Desfontaines * 1830 to 1831 :
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...
* 1832 to 1833 : Louis Cordier * 1834 to 1835 : Adrien de Jussieu * 1836 to 1837 :
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
* 1838 to 1839 : Louis Cordier * 1840 to 1841 :
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
* 1842 to 1843 : Adrien de Jussieu * 1844 to 1845 :
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
* 1846 to 1847 : Adolphe Brongniart * 1848 to 1849 : Adrien de Jussieu * 1850 to 1851 :
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
* 1852 to 1853 :
André Marie Constant Duméril André Marie Constant Duméril (1 January 1774 – 14 August 1860) was a French zoologist. He was professor of anatomy at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle from 1801 to 1812, when he became professor of herpetology and ichthyology. ...
* 1854 to 1855 :
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
* 1856 to 1857 : Marie Jean Pierre Flourens * 1858 to 1859 :
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
* 1860 to 1861 :
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (16 December 1805 – 10 November 1861) was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. In 1854 he coined the term ''éthologie'' ( ethology). Biography He was born in Paris, the s ...
* 1862 to 1863 :
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
Directors elected for five years: * 1863 to 1879 :
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led ...
* 1879 to 1891 : Edmond Frémy * 1891 to 1900 :
Alphonse Milne-Edwards Alphonse Milne-Edwards (Paris, 13 October 1835 – Paris, 21 April 1900) was a French mammalogist, ornithologist, and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who se ...
* 1900 to 1919 :
Edmond Perrier Jean Octave Edmond Perrier (9 May 1844 – 31 July 1921) was a French zoologist born in Tulle. He is known for his studies of invertebrates (annelids and echinoderms). He was the brother of zoologist Rémy Perrier (1861–1936). Career On advice ...
* 1919 to 1931 : Louis Mangin * 1932 to 1936 :
Paul Lemoine Paul Lemoine (March 28, 1878 – March 14, 1940) was a French geologist born in Paris. He was the son of chemist Georges Lemoine (1841-1922) and husband of phycologist Marie Lemoine (1887–1984). Career In 1902-03 he conducted geological s ...
* 1936 to 1942 : Louis Germain * 1942 to 1949 :
Achille Urbain Achille Joseph Urbain (9 May 1884 – 5 December 1957) was a French biologist born in Le Havre. Biography In 1906 he obtained his degree from the national veterinary school at Lyon, afterwards attaining a bachelor's degree in natural scien ...
* 1950 to 1950 : René Jeannel * 1951 to 1965 : Roger Heim * 1966 to 1970 : Maurice Fontaine * 1971 to 1975 : Yves Le Grand * 1976 to 1985 : Jean Dorst * 1985 to 1990 : Philippe Taquet * 1994 to 1999 : Henry de Lumley Presidents elected for five years: * 2002 to 2006 : Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis * 2006 to 2008 : André Menez (deceased in February 2008) * 2009 to 2015: Gilles Boeuf * 2015 to present:


Friends

The Friends of the Natural History Museum Paris is a private organization that provides financial support for the museum, its branches and the '. Membership includes free entry to all galleries of the museum and the botanical garden. The Friends have assisted the museum with many purchases for its collections over the years, as well as funds for scientific and structural development.


Pictures gallery

Galerie d'Anatomie comparée - Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.jpg, A) Statue_Bernardin-de-Saint-Pierre.JPG, B) Jardin Alpin.JPG, C) P1040589 Paris V Jardin des plantes batiment rwk.JPG, D) P1240528 Paris V jardin des plantes paleo hercule rwk.jpg, E) Péristyle et fronton de l'aile droite de la galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie dans le Jardin des plantes, à Paris, le 22 février 2018 - 54.jpg, F) Serre cactees JdP.jpg, G) P1240507 Paris V jardin des Plantes maison Cuvier rwk.jpg, H) BecquerelCuvier2.JPG, I) Galeries d'Anatomie comparée et de Paléontologie. Paris.jpg, J) La « fabrique » des chevaux de Przewalski après rénovation.jpg, K) Palais de Chaillot (303).jpg, L) Jardin botanique alpin La Jaÿsinia - Musée.jpg, M) Abri Pataud - Les Eyzies de Tayac - 20090922.jpg, N) Gallery captions :
A) The cetaceum (podium of cetaceans), in the Comparative Anatomy gallery
B) Statue of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, with Paul and Virginia
C) The alpine garden
D) The Hôtel de Magny
E) The gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy, with the statue of the First Artist by Paul Richer
F) The Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology
G) The greenhouse of New Caledonia built between 1834 and 1836 (at the time the "oriental pavilion") according to the plans of Charles Rohault de Fleury
H)
Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in nat ...
's house on the left and the triangular pediment of the east wing of the Whale Pavilion on the right
I) The Becquerel alley, north side, leads to Cuvier's house where
Henri Becquerel Antoine Henri Becquerel (; 15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pi ...
discovered radioactivity in 1896 J) The Paleontology gallery, on the second floor, with its mezzanine. The second floor exhibits the vertebrate fossils and the mezzanine the invertebrate fossils
K) One of the zoological shelters of the menagerie
L The façade of the Musée de l'Homme, in the southwest wing of the Palais de Chaillot
M The botanical museum of La Jaÿsinia, in the Alps
N The excavations of the Pataud shelter, in Dordogne
.


See also

* List of museums in Paris


Notes and citations


Bibliography (in French)

*


External links


MNHN official website
''(English version)''
the Virtual Gallery of Mineralogy
''(English version)''
Flickr
Mostly Paris, some Lille.
Photos of Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
''(English version)'' {{Authority control 1793 establishments in France Natural history Natural history museums in France Natural history Grands établissements 5th arrondissement of Paris
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
Museums established in 1793