Muséum de Toulouse

The Muséum de Toulouse is a museum of natural history in Toulouse, France. It is in the Busca-Montplaisir, houses a collection of more than 2.5 million items, and has some 3,000 square metres of exhibition space. Its Index Herbariorum code is TLM.

History

The museum was founded in 1796 by the naturalist Philippe-Isidore Picot de Lapeyrouse, with his collections being able to be housed (after the revolution) in the former Carmelite monastery in Toulouse. In 1808, the emperor Napoleon formally gifted all the Carmelite buildings and land to the city of Toulouse, and in 1865 the museum was opened to the public in its present location and under the directorship of Édouard Filhol. Toulouse museum was the first museum in the world to open a gallery of prehistory thanks to the collection of the malacologist Alfred de Candie de Saint-Simon (1731-1851) and the collaboration of Émile Cartailhac, Jean-Baptiste Noulet, and Eugène Trutat.

In 1887 (on the occasion of a world exposition in Toulouse) the botanical gardens of the University of Toulouse became part of the museum. In 2008, the museum reopened in its present form (as of May 2018) with the renovations and extensions of the museum, designed by the architectural firm of Jean-Paul Viguier, having been completed.

Address: 35 Allée Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
Phone: +33 5 67 73 84 84