Muséum Requien, Natural history museum in Avignon, France.
Muséum Requien is a natural history museum in Avignon displaying minerals, fossils, shells, and thousands of preserved animal specimens. The collection occupies a 17th-century building located near the Calvet Museum.
The museum grew from the personal collection of naturalist Esprit Requien, who gathered specimens during the 19th century. After his death, the collection passed to the foundation that continues to maintain and share it with the public.
The museum's name honours Esprit Requien, the Avignon botanist, palaeontologist and malacologist who founded it in 1840 as a cabinet of curiosities. Jean-Henri Fabre's work is displayed here, and the Esprit Requien library holds 18,000 books that researchers still consult.
The museum occupies three levels of the Hôtel Raphélis de Soissans, in Avignon's centre. Opening days differ between published listings, so confirm current hours before setting out. The entrance is the dark green double door marked 17, reached on foot from the nearby Calvet Museum.
The museum's name honours Esprit Requien, who was born in 1788 in a modest house near the rue des Lices in Avignon and died in Bonifacio in 1851. He had already bequeathed his collections nine years before his death, and in 1849 he became administrator of the Calvet museum.
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