What it is: The world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of natural artifacts, including over 2500 mammal skeletons, 1000 reptile and amphibian skeletons, and 1500 bird skeletons, as well as dinosaur skeletons and other prehistoric fossils.
Why you should visit: Have you ever seen a skeleton stampede before?
For those who: love Jurassic Park, enjoy reading little cards stuffed with lots of information, believe the giant ground sloth is their spirit animal
The Galerie de Paléontologie et d'Anatomie comparée (Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy) is more than a fossil collection, it’s an experience. Part of the National Museum of Natural History, the gallery is home to over 2,500 animal skeletons artfully displayed in lifelike poses. Visitors can take in mammoth, giant ground sloth, and woolly rhinoceros fossils, just to name a few. Impressive complete skeletons like the Mastodon, Nile Crocodile, Arabian Oryx, and Asiatic Elephant are definite highlights. And T-rex and triceratops skulls are always on display.
The gallery takes up two floors sorted into three levels and includes dinosaur fossils from Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia, spanning nearly all geological eras. In the marine life section, massive whale and fish skeletons are suspended from the ceiling.
Many of the gallery’s specimens were procured during the great expeditions dispatched from Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some come from the ménagerie du Jardin des plantes, the second oldest zoo in the world. The zoo was founded in 1794, mostly to house the animals abandoned in the royal zoo of the Palace of Versailles that were abandoned after the French Revolution.
The Great Gallery of Evolution, an exhibit that explores the story of evolution through impressive taxidermy specimens, is also housed in the museum and is worth the extra stop.
What you need to know before you go: Admission is free except for special exhibits. It's open from Tuesday to Sunday.
Where to find it: 2 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
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