1995 Photo Contest, Nature, 3rd prize
Photographer

François Le Diascorn

Rapho

01 January, 1994

A domestic cat. The Galerie de Zoologie, a collection of preserved animals, finds its origin in the 19th-century fashion of displaying an exotic, stuffed mammal as a status symbol. A vast, monumental building, it provided an appropriate setting for the giraffes and elephants sent there when they were no longer in vogue. In time, it became home to some 80,000 birds and mammals, a million fish and countless invertebrates. By the 1960s, when the exhibits had cracked and crumbled, the public had moved on to other amusements and the gallery had to close. But in the summer of 1994 the new Galerie d'Evolution reopened, and provides a contemporary context for the zoology museum. The restoration of the animals was a massive project, but the inhabitants have now returned, a fresh glint in their eye and a new shine on their fur or feathers.

About the photographer

François Le Diascorn

This image is collected in