Muséum d’histoire naturelle d’Auxerre

What you will see

The museum shows its collections through temporary exhibitions, so the subject changes from one visit to the next; in 2026 an open-air display of large satellite views, The Ocean Seen from Space, runs until 31 December. Take time for the park, a French-style garden of clipped box laid out from the late 19th century. Look for the ginkgo, golden in autumn, the giant thujas and a magnolia that flowers in March and April, and watch for squirrels, hedgehogs and birds. Family workshops run in the school holidays.

History

The oldest specimens came from property seized during the Revolution, handled at the time by François-Xavier Laire, known as Père Laire. In the 19th and early 20th centuries the local learned society, the Société des Sciences Historiques et Naturelles de l'Yonne, collected widely for the departmental museum, which then held fine arts, archaeology and natural history together. Scientists such as the physiologist Paul Bert and the palaeontologist Gustave Cotteau are linked to the collections.

The natural history section became independent in 1979 and moved in 1980 into its present home, a 19th-century house once owned by the Guilliet family, local industrialists, with a park and a 19th-century greenhouse. It has held the Musée de France label since 2003. The collections include fossils, minerals, mounted animals, a large bird collection, insects, an 18th-century medicinal herbarium from the town's Hôtel-Dieu and plaster botanical models by Vilmorin-Andrieux.