Natural History Museum of Marseille

Why is it significant?

Approach the east wing of Palais Longchamp, which has housed the prestigious Natural History Museum of Marseille since the complex opened in 1869.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Approach the east wing of Palais Longchamp, which has housed the prestigious Natural History Museum of Marseille since the complex opened in 1869. Founded in 1819 by the Marquis de Montgrand in an ancient convent, the museum gained worldwide renown upon moving into these expansive galleries custom-built by Henri Espérandieu. Classical bas-reliefs sculpted by Louis-Félix Chabaud grace the exterior facade, depicting Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology, and Geology as scholarly classical muses surrounded by scientific instruments. The museum preserves over eighty-three thousand zoological specimens, two hundred thousand botanical herbarium sheets, and an exceptional regional paleontological collection revealing prehistoric fossils from across Provence. In the renowned Provence Room, antique dioramas display indigenous regional wildlife, from Alpine wolves and Bonelli's eagles of the calanques to Camargue flamingos and prehistoric cave bears. Historic walnut display cabinets and period parquet flooring bestow the refined atmosphere of an enlightened nineteenth-century cabinet of curiosities. Lofty painted ceilings soar above suspended whale skeletons that hang in quiet majesty. This scientific sanctuary honors the enduring passion of Marseille naturalists who explored biodiversity across land and sea. Students and families wander through these historic halls, enchanted by the wonders of the natural world. Remarkable displays of taxidermy, sparkling regional minerals, and intricate evolutionary dioramas take visitors on an extraordinary voyage through millions of years of natural history and ecological exploration. Generations of inquisitive school children and visiting scholars have gathered here to unlock the hidden mysteries of the natural world.

Look up in the zoology gallery: the monumental twenty-meter skeleton of a bowhead whale suspended overhead commands the hall with breathtaking majesty.

The museum safeguards the rare skeleton of an extinct great auk from the mid-nineteenth century, a poignant reminder of global climatic and ecological shifts.

Merchant sea captains sailing from Marseille regularly contributed rare exotic specimens to museum curators from voyages across the Indian Ocean and Asia.

Walk around the eastern wing into the romantic landscape of the Botanical Garden and Observatory.