The Nantes Natural History Museum

Discover Nantes' heritage!

The Nantes Museum

Welcome to a world of its own: France's scientific heritage. The Nantes Museum brings together natural history collections assembled since the 20th century.

Initially, the idea of this grouping was to allow the younger generations to study the finds.

As the collections grew, the city of Nantes decided to create a common place to bring them all together.

This is the first time that a museum has been housed in a building built especially for it.

The collections of the Natural History Museum

4 main themes are exhibited in the museum:

Zoology
Find animals from all over the world in this gallery.

Witness the biodiversity of the past and present in the same space. Mammals, birds, insects...

There are more than 1.5 million different species, including rare specimens such as the king of rats and the Great Penguin.

Botany
Aspiring botanists will not know where to turn when they enter the gallery.

Herbariums, wood cuts, seeds and fruits are brought together to evoke the activity of botany in previous centuries.

The Earth Sciences of the Universe
On the ground floor, minerals, rocks and fossils await you. A beautiful collection of meteorites is also on display.

Ethnology
Be one of the lucky ones to discover the objects from the past that enabled our ancestors to live and cultivate their land.

Lifestyles differ from country to country and you will understand this with this collection.

The site's workshops and exhibitions

In addition to its collections, the Nantes museum offers visitors the chance to explore a vivarium.

Between snakes and lizards, learn to love and understand these little creatures that frighten us in our daily lives.

Workshops and activities are also organised regularly to provide fun for the whole family. Temporary exhibitions complete your visit on unique themes.