Muséum d’histoire naturelle d’Angers
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| Established | 5 May 1801 |
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| Location |
Central Site (main) 43 rue Jules Guitton 49100 Angers, France Arboretum Site 9 rue du château d'Orgemont 49000 Angers, France |
| Type | municipal museum |
| Accreditation | Inscrit MH 1995 pour l'Hôtel Demarie-Valentin |
| Collections | |
| Collection size | 600,000 objects |
| Visitors |
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| Website | angers.fr/museum |
The Muséum des sciences naturelles d'Angers (commonly called Muséum d'Angers) is a municipal museum in Angers, France. Dedicated to Natural History, the Muséum d'Angers houses in its collections about 600,000 objects, including 3,000 birds, 20,000 shells, 50,000 fossils, 150,000 insects and 350,000 herbarium samples, as well as hundreds of specimens taxidermised or in liquid, skeletons, minerals, technical instruments and Documents. The Muséum d'Angers receives annually some 20,000 visitors, as well as school groups, interns, researchers and volunteers.
Open to the public since 1801, the Muséum d'Angers has a long and rich history.
The initial nucleus of the collections dates from the French Revolution. By the Decree of 1790, Gabriel Eleanor Merlet de la Boulaye (1736–1807) is responsible for gathering all books and natural history collections seized in the national houses. Gathered from the whole department, especially from the houses of emigrants, they are initially stored in the abbey Saint-Serge d'Angers. Unfortunately, they were plundered by the Vendéens who besieged Angers in December 1793.
In 1795 the Central School of Maine-et-Loire was established in the Barrault House. Joseph-Étienne Renou (1740–1809), collaborator of Merlet, is applointed to the chair of Natural History and, with what remained of the collections at the abbey Saint-Serge, forms a natural history cabinet for teaching in the brand new school. The collections were enriched thanks to Louis-Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux (1753–1824), member of the Directory:
Le citoyen Lépeaux a fait ces jours derniers une demande très importante pour votre école d'Histoire naturelle. ... Vous aurez un herbier avec une collection d'insectes et de minéraux, cela formera un commencement de cabinet qui s'enrichira par la suite. Le grand but en demandant ces objets est d'obtenir un Muséum dans la ville d'Angers.
Moreover, La Révellière-Lépeaux invites Renou in 1798 to Paris, where he is allowed to bring back for his cabinet objects from the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, including a collection of 12 fossil fish brought from Italy (Monte Bolca) by Bonaparte in 1797, which still exist and with their original labels. The cabinet finally opens its doors to the public as a Museum of Natural History on 5 May 1801. In 1805, when the Central School was abolished, the museum became municipal, while remaining in the Barrault House, together with the Museum of Fine Arts.
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Wikipedia