History of the museum
A natural history cabinet in the old Athenaeum (1854-1892)
In 1850, under the patronage of Prince Henri of the Netherlands, the Société des Sciences Naturelles was founded with the aim of contributing to the progress and propagation of natural sciences in the country. To ensure adequate conservation of the collections acquired by the company, the State provides several rooms at the Athénée, currently the National Library. A natural history cabinet was then created there with the aim of bringing together all the objects that may interest the study of the natural history of the Grand Duchy and the natural sciences in general.
The museum of the Société des Sciences Naturelles opened its doors to the public in 1854. The exhibited collections include eight cabinets with mirrors of birds, mammals, reptiles and anatomical objects, three display cases of shells and display cases. insects and butterflies. Three entire rooms are reserved for minerals and fossils.
When the need arose in 1892 to convert these premises into classrooms, the collections were transferred to the Vauban barracks in the Pfaffental (demolished in 1956). The accommodation of the natural history collections at this location puts the museum a bit out of the way as the location is not attractive to visitors.
The Natural History Museum at Marché-aux-Poissons (1922-1996)
Acquired by the State in 1922, the Collart-de-Scherff house and the so-called “Old Gendarmerie” buildings, located at the Marché-aux-Poissons, were then transformed for the needs of a museum.
For many years, the State carried out restoration, development and installation work in the buildings of the new State Museum. Throughout this period the collections remain closed to the general public. These transformations have long been the subject of political controversy and the excessively long works arouse public anger. When the installations were almost completed in 1940, the collections had to be moved again to the best protected areas of the museum because of the invasion by German troops.
After the war, it was not long before the museum rooms were successively opened to the public. A first temporary exhibition was organized in 1946. The last room of the Natural History Museum was inaugurated in 1952.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Natural History Museum diversified its activities. Thus, geophysical and astrophysical sciences, with their planetarium, are entering the museum. In 1970 the museum was in possession of the first electron microscope in our country, an essential working tool for research.
From 1980 the museum developed its educational service for school classes, initiated environmental awareness activities (leisure activities for young people, Panda-Club, awareness campaigns, Museum-Bus, publications) and relaunched scientific research on the natural heritage.
Currently the National Museum of Natural History has 7 scientific sections (zoology, botany, paleontology, geology / mineralogy, ecology, anthropology / human biology, geophysics / astrophysics) as well as three general services (the administrative service, the educational service and the technical museum).
A new museum of natural history
Until June 1996, the History and Art Museum and the Natural History Museum shared the premises at Marché-aux-Poissons. However, over the last decades, their collections and their activities have diversified and multiplied in such a way that only a separation of the two museums seemed to solve the lack of space.
From the seventies, the Natural History Museum was therefore looking for new premises and it was on February 6, 1986 that the Chamber of Deputies adopted the bill relating to the restoration of the Hospice Saint-Jean and on the development of this historic monument into a natural history museum. The administrative separation of the State Museums into a National Museum of History and Art and a National Museum of Natural History, established by the law of 28 December 1988, reflects the parallel development of two cultural institutes which are distinguish by a different approach to the public and which both contribute to the enrichment of cultural life in the Grand Duchy.
From 1996, the National Museum of Natural History therefore welcomes its visitors in three buildings located on either side of Münster Street. Each building is intended for a different type of activity. Thus, the Hospice Saint-Jean houses the ‘natur museum’ with its permanent and temporary exhibitions. The educational building has three classrooms for its environmental awareness and education activities for young people and especially school groups.
Finally, the Scientific Research Center has six offices-laboratories and two depots for collections. A team of researchers, but above all volunteer scientific collaborators, study the specimens in the collections and focus on the scientific aspects of our museum.
