Musée des Confluences

In Lyon, the Musée des Confluences opened its doors in December 2014. The new museum, which incorporates the substantial collection of the Musée Guimet, a Natural Science museum established in the latter half of the 19th century, aims to advance scientific knowledge as well as make subjects that many people find laborious and challenging to understand more approachable. 

The name Musée des Confluences alludes to the museum's location at the meeting point of the Rhône and Saône rivers as well as to the institution's goal of bringing together many branches of human knowledge in one location. The offer of the museum is based on its vast collections, which include more than two million items amassed by amateurs and scientists between the 16th and the 21st centuries. 

A remarkable and varied collection of items that the curators have dubbed a 'cabinet of wonders' includes discoveries from the fields of palaeontology, entomology, mineralogy, zoology, and ethnography. 

The Musée de Confluences has a permanent display divided into four main sections that was inspired by such an extensive collection: 

Origins-stories of the World explains how our cosmos came into being from both a scientific and symbolic perspective. 

Species: The living world discusses the interactions between the complex living environment that surrounds man, an animal species.

Societies: The human theatre portrays both past and contemporary social systems, cross-cultural exchange, and the search for knowledge by man. 

Eternities: The afterlife's vision focuses on how various civilizations view death.