The museum is made up of an important scientific heritage, placing it among the first in France, in terms of number of specimens. Its collections cover all areas of natural history: general zoology, regional fauna, mineralogy, vivarium housing exotic or regional reptiles, etc. It also hosts temporary exhibitions.

Zoology gallery: More than a thousand specimens of vertebrate animals have been selected, studied, restored and organized according to a route which offers visitors a modern classification of the animal world, underpinned by the principles of evolution, the only ones capable of explaining the complexity of the living world.

Gallery of Earth and Universe Sciences: Established since the 19th century, the Earth and Universe Sciences collections bring together minerals, rocks and fossils. The collection of meteorites, one of the richest in France, illustrates our knowledge of the Universe.

vivarium : Around twenty regional, national and exotic living species illustrate the diversity of this often unloved group.

Malacology : The Museum's collection of mollusk shells is the result of numerous collections carried out around the world during the XNUMXth century and early XNUMXth century.

Botanical collections : Going up the staircase which leads to the first floor, the visitor discovers a beautiful collection of wooden planks in longitudinal section displayed as paneling along the walls, from the vestibule to the landing of the first floor. This presentation dates from 1903.

The scientific library : Of notable richness, the library offers free access to a unique and original naturalist heritage: around 30 books from the 000th century to the present day, nearly 3 journals (scientific and popular), and many other documents (geological maps, archives, etc.).

Library : This space, specialized in the field of sciences, is integrated into the network of the Nantes Municipal Library offering users a common catalog and the same subscription card. This card allows you to borrow 15 documents of your choice throughout the network, for a period of 4 weeks. At the museum, borrowing is set at 10 books, 2 DVDs and 1 game, among more than 8.000 references available for loan or consultation on site.

But also temporary exhibitions, activities, mediation times and numerous events to discover on https://museum.nantesmetropole.fr/