Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle du Havre -- The Museum of Natural History, Le Havre

The Museum of Natural History is housed in Le Havre’s former law courts, built in the mid-18th century; the façade and monumental staircase are listed as historical monuments. The museum collection was reconstituted after fire damaged the building during the 1944 bombings. The museum was founded by the city in 1838; it boasts mineralogy, zoology, ornithology, palaeontology and prehistory departments, and a collection of early 19th-century paintings by local naturalist and traveller Charles-Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846).