The Musée des Confluences () is a

science centre A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

and anthropology museum which opened on 20 December 2014, in the

2nd arrondissement of Lyon The 2nd arrondissement of Lyon () is one of the nine arrondissements of Lyon, arrondissements of the City of Lyon. History The first five Arrondissements of Lyon, arrondissements of Lyon were created by the Decree of March 24, 1852, which included ...

(

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

), France. In May 2011, the Musée des Confluences, while still under construction, received the designation “Musée de France” from the Ministry of Culture and Communication. It is located at the southern tip of the Presqu'île at the confluence of the

and the

Saône The Saône ( , ; ; ) is a river in eastern France (modern Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department an ...

, adjacent to Autoroute A7, and comprises part of a larger redevelopment project of the Confluence quarter of Lyon. The

deconstructivist Deconstructivism is a postmodern architectural movement which appeared in the 1980s. It gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building, commonly characterised by an absence of obvious harmony, continuity, or symmetry. ...

architectural design, said to resemble a floating crystal cloud of stainless steel and glass, was created by the Austrian firm

Coop Himmelb(l)au Coop Himmelb(l)au (a pun meaning '' Coop Sky Building'' and ''Coop Sky Blue'') is an architecture, urban planning, design and art firm founded in 1968 by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky and Michael Holzer in Vienna, Austria. History Coop Hi ...

History

The museum includes collections of

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

, and Earth Sciences of the Musée d'histoire naturelle — Guimet. These collections will be supplemented by exhibitions of

arts and crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

. The four major exhibitions are called "Origins - Stories of the World", "Species — the Web of life", "Societies — Human theatre," and "Eternities — Visions of the beyond". The first exhibition deals with questions of origin, both the

Big Bang theory The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including the ...

, history of the universe, as well as the birth of life 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 ...

of especially humans. The second exhibition, "Species", explores the links between humans and animals, and evolution of different species. The third exhibition, "societies" is about human

societies A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

and how humans build communities. And finally, "Eternities" deals with the

meaning of life The meaning of life is the concept of an individual's life, or existence in general, having an intrinsic value (ethics), inherent significance or a Meaning (philosophy), philosophical point. There is no consensus on the specifics of such a conce ...

, the inevitable

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

of humans, and how that question has been dealt with in different societies. The museum stands 44 m (144 ft) high, 150 m (492 ft) long, and 83 m (272 ft) wide. Total area will be 22,000 m² (238,000 sq ft), 6,500 of which will be devoted to exhibitions, three times greater than the museum exhibition space. Nine concurrent exhibitions (4 permanent + 5 temporary), plus four discovery spaces and two auditoriums will be available. Construction cost was budgeted for €153 million,Museedesconfluences.fr 50 questions, 50 réponses, ''Musée des Confluences''
but the controversial final cost is now forecast to approach nearly €300 million..

References

External links

Official site of the museum

Musée des Confluences on Mapolis

Musée des Confluence, on the site of Lyon

on the Rhone towards the Confluence (Explanatory notes in Hebrew)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jL-u-K9Ud8/Cruise from the Confluence Southward (Viewing the Confluence from the South)] {{DEFAULTSORT:Musee des Confluences 2nd arrondissement of Lyon Culture in Lyon Museums in Lyon Deconstructivism Coop Himmelblau Anthropology museums in France Natural history museums in France Museums established in 2014 2014 establishments in France

History

See also

References

External links