Despite the name, the Natural History Museum is not a single building, but a collection of sites throughout France. Its historic home is in the Jardin des Plantes, and it's here you'll find the greatest number of branches: taxidermied animals in the excellent Grande Galerie de l'Évolution , fossils and dinosaur skeletons in the Galeries d’Anatomie Comparée et de Paléontologie and meteorites and crystals in the Galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie .
Created in 1793, the National Museum of Natural History became a site of significant scientific research in the 19th century. Of the three museums here, the four-floor Grande Galerie de l’Évolution is a particular winner if you’re travelling with kids: life-sized elephants, tigers and rhinos play safari, and imaginative exhibits on evolution, extinction and global warming fill 6000 sq metres. The temporary exhibits are generally excellent. Within this building is a separate attraction – the Galerie des Enfants – which is a hands-on science museum tailored to children from ages six to 12.
