Founded in 1937, this internationally-famous institution is currently preparing its renovation around the natural and cultural history of man, the main themes being: origins, the peculiarities of the human species and a cultural history of humanity.Left, a part of the cast of Lucy's skeleton, Australopithecus who lived 3.2 million years ago. Right, the entrance to the Musée de l'Homme in the Palais du Trocadéro
Heir to the Musée ethnographique du Trocadéro (Ethnography Museum at the Trocadero), founded in 1878, the Musée de l'Homme was created on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition in 1937. It was constituted from the exceptional collections of the royal cabinet and various "cabinets of curiosities" which had been put together from the 16th century onward. The anthropological and prehistoric reserves of the Museum were added, as were ethnographical objects resulting from the on-going research and associated acquisitions. Today, it's going through a period of renovation and coordination with other museums so that it may continue to defend its vocation as a unique location, combining aesthetics, arts and sciences, whilst putting a common future for humanity into perspective
The publication of the report on the renovation of the Musée de l'Homme marked the first stage of this large project. Devoted both to the Life Sciences as well as to the Sciences of Man, the future museum already has one of the world's most prestigious prehistoric collections as well as holdings in the areas of anatomy, environment or the discovery of the globe. It will seek its definitions in the topics of man as a species, existing in his natural and cultural environment. It will illustrate a contemporary perception of humanity in a permanent exhibition centred on its collections, temporary exhibitions on topical subjects and events designed to answer the preoccupations of the public. The project to renovate the Musée de l'Homme will take 5 years to complete.
The renovation of the Musée de l'Homme is in the pipeline: during its conception, prefiguration operations are planned in the galleries:
Currently: A common origin.
The Galerie d'Anthropologie
The Galerie d'Anthropologie is the only place in France, and one of the rare few in the world, that presents knowledge on evolution, biological diversity and the demography of human populations since their beginnings…
- Â One large family
- Six billion human beings have to share the planet
In 1800, 1 billion people lived on Earth. The population passed the 6 billion mark on 12th November, 1999… On average, 4 human beings are born every second: that's almost 350,000 babies a day ! The "6 billion people" exhibition gives details on all of these demographic aspects. A succession of display cases paints a picture of the process which runs from the birth to the death of a human being: the embryonic development, childbirth, infancy, marriage, reproduction and aging. It also traces the history of human population numbers, sheds light on the mechanisms of its past and present growth, and looks at the reasons for a probable stabilisation in the 21st century. It also asks pertinent questions: what changes need to be made to our way of life to ensure that 10 billion people have enough resources and a suitable planet in the future ?
The Galerie de Préhistoire
It is the human being in its evolutionary chain, from the first hominids almost 4 million years ago to modern man, which is presented in the exhibition "The Mists of Time"
- Â Meet our ancestors
The human genus might appear to be eternal, and yet… what is a mere 3 to 4 million years in the history of life that spans 3 billion years? 100,000 years ago, the first Homo sapiens appeared in the Middle East and East Africa: they were undoubtedly the ancestors of the planet's present inhabitants. The Musée de l'Homme holds the world's richest collection of human fossil remains from the Palaeolithic ages in Europe: Homo erectus, archaic Homo sapiens, Neanderthal Man, Cro-Magnon men and women, etc. It comprises 500,000 items including lithic tools (cut or polished stones), tools from bones, ornaments and major works of prehistoric art, the most significant of which is the Venus of Lespugue figurine.
- A journey lasting several million years
In the mysterious darkness of the lengthy great hall, moving along from one archaeological excavation to another (casts of the ground used for habitat and burials), the visitor follows the evolution of man, step by step: first, man became a biped (Australopithecus, 3.7 million years ago), invented tools (Homo habilis, 2.5 million years ago) and then tamed fire (400,000 years ago), and so on. The whole permanent exhibition "The Mists of Time" follows the major steps of the human adventure. Casts of the main human fossils are displayed behind glass, such as the famous Lucy, Australopithecus afarensis, 3.2 million years old, of whom 40% of the skeleton was found.
The renovation of the Musée de l'Homme is in the pipeline: during its conception, prefiguration operations are planned in the galleries:
Currently: A common origin.
How many are we ? What are the different shapes of eyes in the world ? The different hair colours ? What are the differences between Lucy the Australopithecus and Cro-Magnon Man ? What will the population pyramid look like in 50 years' time ? In 100 years ? Each display case, each room deals with temporal, geographic and genetic questions, proceeding step-by-step, through diagrams, objects, scenes or recreations. Little by little, the frontiers fade away. Our preconceptions about relationships and kinship between different human races fall away : we all have one common origin
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