Paris - Jardin des Plantes (Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle)

The Jardin des Plantes in Paris offers visitors a comprehensive view of the various fields of natural history - botany (the School of Botany has a collection of over 10,000 plant species), mineralogy (particularly notable are the giant crystals), zoology, ecology and paleontology. It is also a place of work and study for students of the nearby University Paris VII (Jussieu).

At the beginning of the 17th century Louis XIII's doctors laid out a herb garden here, and this soon grew into a large plant collection.

A school of botany and pharmacy was established, and in 1650 the garden was thrown open to the public. The aristocrat and naturalist George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707-88) extended the garden into a park, laid out partly in the English style and partly in rigorously geometric style. The 19th century saw the erection of the iron and glass galleries of paleontology, botany and mineralogy, with greenhouses, an aviary and exhibition buildings (to left of main entrance). The acacia between the galleries of botany and mineralogy, planted in 1636, is believed to be the oldest tree in Paris.

In the part of the park farthest from the Seine is a low hill with a small maze and a handsome bronze temple - a favorite retreat for romantics both past and present.

During the French Revolution the people of Paris had their first sight of wild animals when they were transferred from the royal menagerie at Versailles to the English park of the Jardin des Plantes. In 1795 they could wonder at the first elephant, in 1826 at the first giraffe. Napoleon established a bear-pit. The park then acquired its official name, the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle. In 1993 the Grande Galerie de Zoologie in Rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, which had been closed since 1965, was reopened after extensive restoration.