Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum of Nîmes was built around the cloister and chapel of the Jesuits, and opened in 1895. The collections include almost 330,000 pieces and the museum is ranked 6th worldwide for the wealth of its collection.
The collections are organised into three sequences, beginning with Prehistory featuring statues-menhirs (from between -6000 and -4500 BC), the most ancient sculptures of Languedoc. The ethnography and zoology rooms are set out to resemble a voyage around the world and presented in a 1930s style, with around 500 specimens, in phylogenetic classification. Visitors can get a better understanding of the theory of evolution thanks to the stuffed animals on display. Visitors are welcomed by Maurice, the male giraffe from Niger, followed by a Siberian tiger, Canadian elk and a polar bear, showing the diversity of the living world.
13 Boulevard Amiral Courbet
