Those who have known him for years will not be disoriented. Those who discover it will appreciate its new rooms and its redesigned accessibility. Only the large giraffe and the impressive stuffed rhinoceros left the central staircase from where a crane came to remove them a few months before the natural history museum in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) closed for work. Three years of construction and a budget of €7.4 million were necessary before its reopening this Saturday, December 13.
Beyond the structural aspect of the operation – in particular the restoration of its facade, the replacement of its roof and the installation of a new air treatment system – the public will benefit from more space, with two additional levels open to visitors. Reinvented interactivity. And the installation of an elevator, essential to allow everyone to move between floors.
“It’s a metamorphosis in the way of presenting our collections, but which retains the identity of a place to which the people of Le Havre are attached,” summarizes Anne Liénard, the director of an establishment that was celebrating throughout this opening weekend.
Collection of stuffed animals destroyed in bombing
Among the must-sees, the room dedicated to current biodiversity, bringing together mammals and birds, including marine species and insects. With around 160 stuffed animals presented. Some of which, like the red panda or the Komodo monitor lizard, have just joined the collections. A very small part of the 14,000 pieces stored in reserves for a total of 250,000 items preserved.
“One of the specificities of our museum is that the majority of stuffed animals are recent because almost all of them were destroyed during the fire caused by the bombings of 1944,” explains Gaëlle Beau, in charge of the life sciences collections.
Right next door, the space dedicated to the biodiversity of the past combines, among many treasures, a giant screen, for a dive in Normandy several tens of millions of years ago, with a stegosaurus skeleton reconstructed to scale. A rarity, even if the whole puzzle is not complete. “This is the first time it has been presented in this way,” says Javier Párraga, in charge of Earth Sciences. “Previously, the bones were stored in display cases. Today, they are coming back to life in a way.” Just like the minerals, shining brightly, in a dedicated gallery located just above.
And since the ambition of the site is to be a destination open to the whole family. A Norman forest is reserved for the little ones, a place where footbridges, slides and tunnels intertwine and in which small animals play hide and seek.
Finally, it’s impossible not to stop in the graphic arts cabinet, dedicated to the work of the Le Havre designer and naturalist Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, who sailed in 1800 towards the still mysterious southern lands. More than 200 years have passed. And yet, the finesse of his line and his sense of observation are still as astonishing as ever. Almost better known on the other side of the planet than in his native Normandy, he now benefits from a location that matches his talent.