Overview of 250 years of Natural Sciences

About 250 years ago the then governor of the Netherlands, Karel van Lotharingen, established a cabinet of curiosities. Wealthy enthusiasts were very keen on building up collections of artefacts at that epoch. After his death, the collection ended up in a roundabout fashion in the hands of the City of Brussels. Finally, it was placed in the Natural History Museum, in 1846, where the collection continued to grow: it now features 37 million specimens! This natural science collection and the research surrounding it form the basis of the Museum of Natural Sciences. What you see in the Museum is only the tip of a gigantic iceberg! You can marvel at the most splendid items in the permanent exhibition rooms and now in the new 250 years of Natural Sciences exhibition as well.

Did you know there used to be a zoo in the Leopold Park behind the Museum? And that after it died, in 1880, the elephant kept in the zoo was stuffed and is now on display in this room? Other showpieces are the whales that were excavated during work on the Antwerp fortress belt. With a nod to the iguanodons close by, you will discover here a picture showing the ingenious process for assembling the first iguanodon skeleton. You will become acquainted with the oldest collection of Russian minerals, with the unique Ishango bone (*) or with the fossil remains from Messel. You can stroll along besides a superb stuffed specimen of a thylacine, a species that is now extinct. You can browse through the log books, manuscripts and sketches of the Institute's scientists who sailed to the South Pole on board the Belgica in 1897. You can see two gorillas from the Congolese National Parks, which the Institute founded in about 1930, with the support of the Royal House. Even more recent items are the stuffed tiger and giant tortoise, as an illustration of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and the petrified forest of Hoegaarden brought to the surface during work on the high-speed railway system.