The Muséum d’histoire naturel de Marseille, also known in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as the Natural History Museum of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, 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 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 area ...

. 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's ...

of the

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

department. It is located in the

Palais Longchamp The Palais Longchamp is a monument in the 4th arrondissement of Marseille, France. It houses the Musée des beaux-arts and Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille. The surrounding Longchamp Park (French: ''Parc Longchamp'') is listed by the 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 Museum of France (''Musée de France'') is a title given to the main state museums in France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and ter ...

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 (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

wildlife. *''Salle d'ostéologie'': comparative anatomy. *''Salle de préhistoire, sur l'évolution'':

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 ...

and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

. 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 {{France-museum-stub