page_title: National Museum of Natural History, France
section_title: Mission and organization
hierarchical_section_title: National Museum of Natural History, France / Mission and organization
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vue depuis la rue Buffon de la galerie de Paléontologie et d'Anatomie comparée (Muséum national d'histoire naturelle) au Jardin des plantes, à Paris.
context_page_description: The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, is the natural history museum of France and a grand établissement of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum is located in Paris, on the left bank of the Seine. It was established in 1635 by King Louis XIII as the royal garden of medicinal plants, and in 1793, after the Revolution, it was reorganized in its present form and under its present title. As of 2017, the museum has 14 sites throughout France, including the original location at the Jardin des Plantes, which remains one of the seven departments of MNHN.
context_section_description: The museum has as its mission both research (fundamental and applied) and public diffusion of knowledge. It is organized into seven research and three diffusion departments.
  The research departments are:
  Classification and Evolution
  Regulation, Development, and Molecular Diversity
  Aquatic Environments and Populations
  Ecology and Biodiversity Management
  History of Earth
  Men, Nature, and Societies, and
  Prehistory
  The diffusion departments are:
  The Galleries of the Jardin des Plantes
  Botanical Parks and Zoos, and
  The Museum of Man (Musée de l'Homme)
  The museum also developed higher education, and now delivers a master's degree.
caption: Main façade of the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy.
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