The Natural History Museum of the Palais Longchamp

Due to the richness of its collections, the Museum of Natural History of Marseille is listed in the top 10 of the most important museums in France. It is therefore quite natural to talk about it in this article and to visit it during a stay in Marseille.The museum was created in 1819, urged by the Marquis de Montgrand and the Earl of Villeneuve-Bargemon, respectively mayor and prefect of Marseille at that time. The first collections included pieces from the Cabinet des curiosités of the 18th century as well as donations from French government. At the beginning, the four walls of the Prefecture’s library hosted the museum of natural history. Then, it often changed places before occupying the right wing of the Palais Longchamp.The Palais Longchamp itself is a major attraction in Marseille. This building, inaugurated in 1869 is the work of the architect Henry Espérandieu and was designed to the glory of water, arts and sciences. It is no coincidence that the Museum of Natural History was installed here. As for the part occupied by the museum, it should be noted that all installations, furniture and the large wall-mounted showcases were designed by the architect himself.As mentioned above, the Museum of Natural History of Marseille has important collections dealing with palaeontology, botany, mineralogy, zoology and human sciences. This represents a total of nearly 620,000 objects, including seagrass beds and seed samples, stones and minerals, shells of marine and continental molluscs from around the world and much more.More than 750 specimens of mammals, fish collections, reptiles, birds of all kinds can be found here. Between the 19th and the 20th century, the collections of the museum were enriched by donations from naturalist scientists, private collectors and other nature enthusiasts, most of them are natives of the region.As part of a stay in Marseille, a detour by the Palais Longchamp is strongly advised, to discover the treasures that the Museum of Natural History contains. Moreover, a walk in this vast green expanse behind the Palace can only do good ...