Natural History Museum of La Rochelle

About

The museum occupies the former residence of the governors of Aunis, a mansion built in 1708–1718 to plans by the engineer Claude Masse, to which two wings were added in 1775. In 1832 the left wing was fitted out for the natural history collections that Clément de Lafaille had donated in 1782: his cabinet, restored in its original coral red, is described as the oldest natural history cabinet in France. In 1852 Louis-Benjamin Fleuriau de Bellevue bequeathed most of his natural history and ethnography collections and his library.

Closed in 1998 for a €14.4 million restoration, the museum now offers some 2,300 m² of galleries: the coastal environment on the ground floor; zoology on the first floor, with the giraffe given by Muhammad Ali, ruler of Egypt, to Charles X, whose story inspired the animated film Zarafa; palaeontology, geology and minerals in the basement; archaeology on the second floor.

Its ethnographic collection “Les Ailleurs” counts 5,500 pieces, 2,500 of them from Africa — the second largest in France after the Musée du quai Branly — with Pacific treasures such as the Rongo statue from Mangareva and a double-headed moai kavakava from Easter Island. The building has been listed as a historic monument since 2003, and its botanical garden shelters a dolmen moved from La Jarne.

Visitor information

Closed on Mondays and on 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, 1 November, 11 November and 25 December. Combined tickets: three museums €18 (valid one month), with the towers €15, inter-museum pass €30 (valid twelve months).

On the map

Sources: museum.larochelle.fr · Wikipedia (Muséum d’histoire naturelle de La Rochelle). Checked 14 October 2026.