Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Bayonne Museum of Natural History was founded in 1856, marking the beginning of an institution dedicated to the preservation and study of scientific collections. Despite a devastating fire in 1890 that destroyed much of its collections, the museum survived with several successive moves. These movements saved some of the specimens, although the institution experienced prolonged closure periods, notably from 1949.

The reopening of the museum in June 2010 on the sensitive natural site of the Ansot Plain, at the gates of Bayonne, marked a revival for this century-old institution. The present building, integrated into a 18th-century Basque farmhouse, houses regional collections in botany, zoology (malacology, entomology, ornithology) and geology. This place combines architectural and scientific heritage, providing a unique framework for the discovery of local natural resources.

The museum is now labeled "Museum de France" and is located at 1 avenue du Marshal Leclerc in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Its implantation in a sensitive natural space reinforces its role in valuing the environmental and cultural heritage of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The collections, although partially reconstructed after the fire of 1890, remain a valuable testimony of regional biodiversity and the history of the natural sciences in the South-West.

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