Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Rouen, Natural history museum in Rouen, France.
The Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Rouen is a natural history museum occupying multiple floors of a former convent building in this Norman city. The collection holds around 800,000 specimens and objects covering zoology, botany, geology, and paleontology gathered over nearly two centuries.
The institution was founded in 1828 and opened in a former convent dating to 1640, giving it a layered historical setting. It started as a teaching collection for medical students before becoming a public museum serving the region.
The collections reflect a long tradition of gathering natural specimens from around the world, showing how scientific curiosity shaped the way people organized knowledge about nature. Walking through the displays, you notice how objects are grouped to tell stories about living things and their environments.
The museum is accessible by public transportation and open several days a week. Plan for several hours to see the main collections, especially if you want to spend time on specific areas that interest you.
The museum runs Saturday workshops where children explore natural science through hands-on activities centered on different continents and ecosystems. These sessions reveal aspects of the collection that casual visitors often miss.
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