Musée d'Histoire naturelle & Vivarium - Tournai

The Natural History Museum and Vivarium was installed in 1828 on the site of the former Saint-Martin brewery , and is the first museum in Belgium accessible to the public, with donations from King Leopold I, among others.

In 1839, the museum inaugurated its new building , gallery and square room in the large courtyard of the Tournai town hall. The museum's reputation extends beyond the borders of Belgium and contacts have been established with the cities of London, Paris, Amsterdam , but also Meiringen, Moscow and Curaçao . After ten years of prosperity, the museum fell into oblivion after the death of its founders. Global conflicts contribute to this disinterest. In 1959, Paul Simon was appointed curator of the museum. He revitalized the museum by renovating the windows of the main gallery and installing thirteen dioramas in the square room.

Today, the museum offers a varied collection of naturalized animals (including many bird species), grouped in large families and according to an evolutionary logic, which can be discovered along a glass gallery, with some specimens of large mammals in the middle (giraffe, impressive Asian elephant and fur seal). The museum also features vivariums with some sixty species of living reptiles, insects and arachnids (including a variety of tarantulas), several aquariums with notable species (lungfish, periophthalmos) and a conservatory for exotic butterflies.

Willem Vandenameele