Collections

Veritable archives of the Earth, the Muséum’s collections are among the richest in the world, alongside those of the British Museum in London and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Coming soon to this section: a selection of the most remarkable objects.

The collection groups

Biological anthropology

The MNHN’s biological anthropology collections are among the world’s most...

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Biological Resources of Living and Cryopreserved Cells

The Biological Resources of Living and Cryopreserved Cells (RBCell) of the...

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Botany

The botany group is an old, historical collection of over 2,000,000 items...

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Cultural anthropology

The MNHN’s cultural anthropology collections focus on the interrelationship...

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Document, archive and art collections

The Muséum’s written, graphic, historical, artistic and electronic...

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Live collections

The live animal and plant collections created by the department of botanical...

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Marine invertebrates

This is one of the fastest-growing groups each year thanks to the many...

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Mineralogy and geology

Geology is the study of the Earth in terms of its various components and...

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Palaeontology

Palaeontology is the study of life in the past through the fossilised beings...

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Prehistory

Prehistory is an offshoot field of anthropology.

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Terrestrial arthropods

Arthropods are segmented animals possessing an external, articulated...

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Vertebrates

Vertebrates are animals possessing an internal skeleton made of bone or...

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Programmes and infrastructures

Synthesys

As part of an initiative by the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (the CETAF), the...

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Leonardo

The Leonardo TOI project is part of the European Union’s Lifelong Learning Programme,...

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e-ReColNat Botanical Network

The French herbarium network consists of national, university, municipal and community-based...

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Scientific databases

The Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle databases

The Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle holds around 66,785,000 collection items, including...

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Other scientific databases

Discover the supplementary scientific databases on animals and plants.

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Why do we have collections?

How long have the collections existed?

Having acted as repositories of natural diversity for over 350 years, the Muséum’s collections...

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Who are the collections for?

The Muséum is open to all. Scientists, students, schoolchildren and lovers of nature have...

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What are the collections for?

Many reasons: the objects in the naturalist collections offer everyone the chance to discover...

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Unique collections

Our heritage is fragile. It is a cultural asset that helps us to pass on the memory of nature,...

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