Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life. E.O. Wilson, 1984

24 Sept 2011

A Brief History of Natural History (in Paris)


Every day, after a bowl of coffee with baguette and jam, I cycle down boulevard Saint. Germain, pass through gilded iron gates, cross the cobbled courtyard, duck under an archway and enter my own personal Disneyland. My new life began two weeks ago when I started my masters in ‘Ecologie, Biodiversité et l’Evolution’ at the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. And I couldn’t be happier.




The Jardin des Plantes has been the seat of France’s studies of nature since 1635, when King Louis XIV began a medicinal garden to rival the collections of La Sorbonne along the Seine. From the beginning, the Jardin focused on the relationship between man and nature, by displaying those plants which could be used directly to cure ailments. But it was the arrival of Buffon as director almost a hundred years later which kick started the collection of samples across the world. He saw the role of the Jardin as a repository for the discoveries of intrepid botanists and zoologists, doubling its size, mingling with the rich and powerful in the salons, and writing « L’Histoire Naturelle » a 37 volume catalogue. The 18th century trend of cabinets of curiosity, effectively demonstrating wealth and power by collecting and paying for strange objects from the far corners of the globe extended to natural history, and the remarkable collections at the museum continue today to satisfy the most curious of minds.

As part of our introductory lectures, we received tours of the museum and its archives. Dusty backrooms and winding corridors crammed with lotus flowers from the tomb of Ramses, trays full of ammonite fossils, and a perilous shelving arrangement of a dizzying number of skeletons. Almost as impressive as the collections, is the history of the place. 
 
Buffon died in 1788, narrowly avoiding the guillotine and the French revolution which followed a year later. The Jardin was seized by the république, and the menagerie at Versailles was “liberated from the nobility”. Five years later, in 1793 along with the Louvre, the Museum National d’Histoire Natural was opened to the public. Lamarck replaces Buffon, ordering the immense collections in relation to the emerging views of classification, in particular in relation his position as one of the first to question the concept of a species as a definite identity. The halls of comparative anatomy are piled high with skeletons, whilst the greenhouses overflow with lush green vegetation. Right up to the 20th century, the museum collection only continued to expand. The world wars take hold of France and all of its money, so that once peace returns in Europe, the zoology gallery falls into disrepair. Like a mass grave, the hall housing the taxidermy collections of mammals, birds, lizards and others is sealed with a zinc roof and shut to the public. 


It was only following protests of Jean Dors , the museum’s professor of mammals and birds, throughout the 1970s that a solution was found to the increasingly poor conditions. The construction of a huge network of underground tunnels and bunkers, known as the “zootheque” was completed at the end of the decade, and the gargantuan task of transferring thousands of stuffed animals began. Having walked through these halls, I can confirm the never-ending display of stuffed animals is astounding. And yet this did not solve the museums problem of how to share its wealth with the public, in order to communicate the increasingly apparent situation that Man had altered the state of Nature.

Times and currents of thought have changed drastically since its conception, and the museum now recognises that to truly reflect the diversity of life, natural process and human interactions with it, the communication of evolutionary forces must be a central factor. During the 80s, when money flowed a bit more freely and when the Mitterrand led government invested heavily in the arts and culture, a plan was hatched to convert the zoology gallery into the “Grande Gallerie de L’Evolution”. After years of restoration, the jewel in the crown of the Jardin des Plantes opened to the public, and upon entry to the new gallery the public are faced with an awe inspiring stampede of savannah adapted animals. 

The museums research focus on understanding the functioning of nature with Homo sapiens as a key component, fits my desire to learn like a glove. And I imagine my time here will keep this blog ticking over too...


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