Museum of Natural History Paris
Originally begun as the Royal Medicinal Plant Garden in 1635, the National Museum of Natural History has grown to include a number of buildings and exhibitions that cover all aspects of natural history. The spectacular Great Hall of Evolution has three exhibition areas covering various aspects of life and its development. Other galleries feature collections and exhibitions of mineral, precious stones, the development of plant life, anatomy (with nearly 1000 skeletons), fossils and insects. The Jardin des Plantes has two extremely impressive glasshouses - the tropical hothouse with its hot, humid atmosphere, containing banana trees, ficus, cycads and ferns, and the Mexican hothouse, with plants such as the American cactus, the Mexican agave, plants found only in Madagascar and succulent plants from southern Africa - a total of several thousand plant species.

The museum is also the keeper of the Menagerie, one of the oldest zoological gardens in the world, with 240 mammals, 500 birds and 130 reptiles.