Musée d’initiation à la nature, Ecology museum in the Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen, France
The Musée d'Initiation à la Nature is a natural history museum housed in Saint-Étienne Abbey that presents local wildlife through dioramas. The displays show mammals found in the bocage landscape, birds from towns and cities, and creatures from freshwater lakes and coastal waters.
The Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Caen, founded in 1823, was destroyed in 1944 during the Battle of Caen. The present museum was founded in 1974 by Dr Duncombe to replace it, installed in the former bakery within the Abbaye aux Hommes enclosure. Since 1987 it has been run by the CPIE Vallée de l'Orne, which also manages the Maison de la nature in Sallenelles.
The museum occupies the former bakery of the Abbaye aux Hommes, now Caen's town hall. Its two small buildings include the room called "Becs, museaux et Cie", where local birds are shown as taxidermy mounts in dioramas. Temporary exhibitions run in May and June for school groups and in July and August for the general public.
The museum occupies two small buildings inside the walls of the Abbaye aux Hommes, next to the Caen town hall, in the former abbey bakery. Temporary exhibitions run in May and June for school groups and in July and August for the general public. The surrounding gardens hold wild plants traditionally grown in Normandy.
The museum occupies the former bakery of the Abbaye aux Hommes, the abbey that now houses Caen's town hall. It is described as the smallest natural history museum in France, and its two small buildings include a room called "Becs, museaux et Cie" with taxidermy dioramas.
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