page_title: Museum of Natural Sciences
section_title: Permanent exhibitions
hierarchical_section_title: Museum of Natural Sciences / Permanent exhibitions
caption_attribution_description: Iguanodon Bernissartensis at the Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen in Brussels, Belgium
context_page_description: The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium is a museum dedicated to natural history, located in Brussels, Belgium. The museum is a part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Its most important pieces are 30 fossilised Iguanodon skeletons, which were discovered in 1878 in Bernissart, Belgium. The dinosaur hall of the museum is the world's largest museum hall completely dedicated to dinosaurs. Another famous piece is the Ishango bone, which was discovered in 1960 by Jean de Heinzelin de Braucourt in the Belgian Congo. The museum also houses a research department and a public exhibit department.
context_section_description: The Dinosaur hall: with the world-famous Iguanodon skeletons (30 almost complete skeletons)
  Of Men and Mammoths: about the evolution of man and about the last ice age in Western Europe.
  The Mammal Gallery: recent and extinct mammals, including a thylacine.
  The North and South Pole: a view of two different worlds in a (plexi)glass tunnel.
  The Whale Hall: skeletons of whales, dolphins, walruses, sirenians, and seals. A small part of the hall is devoted to the whales' role in the economy and their sacrifices to it.
  The Shell Gallery houses a tropical aquarium and a complete survey of the lower classes of invertebrates. The nearby North Sea Discovery Room takes visitors on an interactive tour around beach and sea life at the Belgian coast. The entire collection consists of 9,000,000 specimens and is one of the three biggest shell collections in the world. A great deal was collected by Philippe Dautzenberg.
  The Insect Gallery: insects, spiders, crustaceans and other arthropods, including a vivarium with living specimens. The collection consists of 15,000,000 specimens of which ten thousands are holotypes of great scientific value.
  The Mineral Gallery: crystals, cut gems, meteorites and precious bits of moon rock.
  The Ishango bone, a prehistoric bone counting tool.
  
  In addition to these permanent exhibitions, there are also temporary exhibitions which are always highly interactive.
caption: Mounted Iguanodon skeletons in the Dinosaur hall
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