Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Lille Museum of Natural History was created in 1816 by the Lille Society of Science, Agriculture and Arts, from a zoological collection including a naturalized royal tiger. It was inaugurated in 1822 in the former Hôtel de Ville and transferred in 1896 rue de Bruxelles to a building designed to also house the laboratories of the Faculty of Science. This architectural project, inspired by the Baltard Halls, was completed in 1895.

The collections have become richer over time, integrating geological backgrounds (including those of Jules Gosselet, pioneer professor of regional geology), ethnographics (like those of Alphonse Moillet, acquired in 1990), and industrials (derived from the industrial and commercial museum in Lille, entrusted in 1991). These sets now illustrate four main themes: naturalist, geological, ethnographic and industrial. Despite the damage suffered during the two world wars, the museum preserved rare specimens, including extinct species such as the great penguin or the marsupial wolf.

The museum preserves approximately 110,000 zoological specimens, 200,000 fossils and minerals, and 13,000 ethnographic objects, mostly non-European. Its galleries trace 600 million years of geological history, while temporary exhibitions highlight collections usually stored in reserve, such as oceanic objects or industrial artifacts. In 2023, after a long legal controversy, the museum returned Brazilian objects acquired in 2003, marking a turning point in its management of ethnographic collections.

The current building, designed for university education, also houses Egyptian mummies studied by medical imaging, revealing ptolemaic embalming practices. The museum, labeled "Musée de France", develops an active policy of exhibitions, educational workshops and scientific mediation, supported by the Association des Amis des Musées de Lille. Despite the expansion projects mentioned, such as the occupation of neighbouring Jean-Macé College, no definitive solution has yet been found to expose the entire collections.

The geological collections, founded by Jules Gosselet, are among the most comprehensive in the world for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, with samples dating from -600 million years in the Gallo-Roman era. The ethnographic collection, derived from the legacy of Alphonse Moillet in 1850, includes rare objects from Oceania, Africa and America, including a māori head restored to New Zealand in 2011. The museum remains a key player in preserving the natural and cultural heritage, while adapting to contemporary issues of restitution and conservation.

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