Natural History Museum in Paris — the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution

A hall of iron and glass

The Grande Galerie de l’Évolution is the flagship of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, in the Jardin des Plantes. Jules André built the gallery, which opened in 1889: a nave of cast iron, glass and woodwork ringed by three balconies, under a glass roof of 1,000 square metres. It has borne its present name since the renovation that reopened it in 1994.

The visit moves from the sea — skeletons of a southern right whale, a blue rorqual, a sperm whale and a giant squid — to the African Caravan, then to evolution and the room of threatened and extinct species. Historic specimens are scattered through it, among them the rhinoceros of Louis XV, the quagga and the Asian elephant Siam. The giant panda sent to Paris by Father David in the nineteenth century is also here.

What is closed, and what is new in 2026

The change to know before you come is a closure. The Galerie de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie comparée, at 2 rue Buffon, shut for works on 19 January 2026 and is due to reopen during 2027, so the dinosaur and large-mammal skeletons cannot be seen this year. The Grande Galerie and the Geology and Mineralogy Gallery remain open.

Photo: André Alliot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Two exhibitions are on in autumn 2026. “Artistes au Museum”, with more than 300 works, runs from 23 September 2026 to 7 March 2027 for the Museum’s 400th anniversary. “Sur les traces des dinosaures”, on the digs at Angeac-Charente, is shown on the first floor; we found no end date for it.

Photo: Hypsibius, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tickets, in practice

A permanent-collection ticket is €13, or €10 reduced. Each temporary exhibition adds a supplement and a different family pass (see above). Entry to the permanent collection is free for under-25s, so a family with young adults should check the list of free categories before buying. There is no combined ticket for the Museum’s sites, but a “Discovery” offer gives a reduced rate on a second site within three months.

Getting there

Place Monge (line 7) is the nearest station, about 314 metres from the point we hold for the gallery, a walk of about 5 minutes by our method, which multiplies the straight line by 1.3 and walks at 80 metres a minute. Censier – Daubenton (line 7) is 413 metres away, Jussieu (lines 7 and 10) 428 and Saint-Marcel (line 5) 537. The address is 36 rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire.

Choosing your moment

The gallery is closed on Tuesdays, like the Grandes Serres and the geology gallery, and opens from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. the other days, with the last tickets sold an hour before closing. It is also closed on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. The geology gallery shortens to 10 a.m.–5 p.m. after 25 October. Free admission to the permanent collection, for those who qualify, saves the €13 ticket but not the supplement of the temporary exhibition.

The dinosaur exhibition “Sur les traces des dinosaures” opens on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and every day except Tuesday during school holidays. The festive weekend for the anniversary falls on 17 and 18 October 2026.

What to look at

• The nave. It measures 55 metres by 25 and rises 30 metres, according to Wikipedia; the three levels offer 6,000 square metres of permanent exhibition.
• The collection in numbers. About 100 fish, amphibians and reptiles, 450 birds and 350 mammals are on show, according to Wikipedia.
• The room of threatened and extinct species. It shows 257 naturalised animals, including extinct ones, and holds the giant panda sent to Paris by Father David, which with another specimen forms the type series of Ailuropoda melanoleuca.
• The historic animals. The rhinoceros of Louis XV, the quagga and the Asian elephant Siam.
• The geology and mineralogy gallery. Martian meteorites and giant crystals, at €9 or €7, free for under-25s.

History in brief

The Muséum descends from the royal garden of medicinal plants created by Louis XIII’s edict of 1626, and became the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle by decree of the Convention on 10 June 1793. The zoology gallery was inaugurated in July 1889, to the plans of Louis Jules André. It was renovated by Paul Chemetov and Borja Huidobro, with the scenographer René Allio, and reopened on 21 June 1994 as the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution. The Muséum received 3,742,929 visitors across all its sites in 2023, according to Wikipedia.

Combining it with

From the gallery’s coordinates, in a straight line; times by our method.

Place	Distance	On foot
Grand Mosque of Paris	106 m	2 min
Jardin des Plantes	308 m	5 min
Arènes de Lutèce	442 m	7 min
Ménagerie	462 m	8 min
Rue Mouffetard	515 m	8 min
Place de la Contrescarpe	559 m	9 min
Institut du monde arabe	747 m	12 min

The Grand Mosque is the nearest neighbour, 106 metres away, and the garden and Ménagerie sit within 462 metres.

Hotels nearby, and getting there

The closest hotel to the gallery is the Hôtel du Jardin des Plantes, about 228 metres away, then the Hôtel Saint-Christophe, 318 metres, the Best Western Quartier Latin Panthéon, 327 metres, and the Hôtel Maxim Quartier Latin, 382 metres, all as the crow flies. For the whole park, see hotels near the Jardin des Plantes. The garden itself is described on our Jardin des Plantes page, and the zoo on the Ménagerie page.