8.10.12

The Grand Gallery of Evolution



In the “Jardin des Plantes” (see previous post), originally created as a Royal Medicinal Plant Garden during the 17th century and quite soon opened to the public, you can find several buildings being part of the National Museum of Natural History, founded in 1793, during the Revolution. Actually the museum comprises 14 sites all over France, but the major ones may be the ones in the “Jardin des Plantes”, including the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology, the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy… and especially the Grand Gallery of Evolution in a building which stood ready at the same time as the Eiffel Tower, in 1889.

There are some 7000 animal species to be seen, still existing or not. The museum was recently modernized, still respecting the original architecture. Also, there are a lot of “toys” and modern equipment (functioning!), to the delight of kids …




… as I could notice during a visit with my grandkids in late August.


In a separate part of the park, there is a little “zoo”. I posted about it already.

13 comments:

Shane Pollard said...

An interesting place to take the grandies - thank you Peter!
My french family live in northern Burgundy and 8y GD Zoé has been on a couple of school trips to Paris.... I've forgotten what they were - silly me!!
I will tell her about this when we skype next!
I voted for you Peter - Peter's Paris is by far my favourite Paris blog.
Bonne chance mon ami.

Shane♥

Thérèse said...

Bien vu Peter! Une journée ne suffirait pas...

Jeanie said...

It's fun to see the inside! When Rick and I were there, we walked a bit through the garden and near the zoo, but a) it was raining and b) everything was shut up tighter than a drum. It's a spot that I decided then and there that I would enjoy visiting again. When it is dry!

Alain said...

L'éléphant est mon préféré. L'été dernier, les serres n'étaient pas encore très luxuriantes. Celles du zoo de Montpellier (Lunaret) sont très intéressantes.

Anonymous said...

Eres un hombre afortunado...tus nietos son espectaculares...
Felicitaciones!
Maria

Studio at the Farm said...

Oh boy, would I ever LOVE to visit that site!!! Not only does the garden look fabulous, but the building with all that glass is so beautiful. And, believe it or not, I love stuffed, preserved animals. I so very much more prefer them alive, but it is fascinating to be able to study their form in this state. Thank you, Peter!

claude said...

Je n('ai pas ma t^te à moi, ce matin, je repasse demain.

claude said...

J'y suis sûrement allée au jardin des plantes quand j'étais petite Parisienne mais j'en ai moins de souvenirs que du zoo de Vincennes.

Synne said...

To the delight of kids ...and Synne!
This place is near my new school, and I'm looking forward to checking it out soon!

arabesque said...

haha! what a fun day to visit the zoo and of course with two cute and adorable grand kids. ^0^

Virginia said...

Eva was fascinated by the march of the animals but oddly Davis was fixated on the glass elevator! It is an amazing place and I'm glad your two got to spend some time there.

The gardens look so different from when we were there. The whole place is beautiful and I have found not nearly as crowded as the other gardens in Paris. This was a nice trip back there Peter,
V

Cezar and Léia said...

wow I want to visit there someday!
Léia

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