The museum was founded in 1964 by wealthy French industrialist rugmaker François Sommer (1904-1973) and his wife Jacqueline who were avid hunters and conservationists. It is operated by the 'Fondation de la Maison de la Chasse et de la Nature', established by the couple.

The museum itself is housed within the Hôtel de Guénégaud (XVIII century), the only private mansion designed by architect François Mansart that still exists, to which the Hôtel de Mongelas (1703) was added in 2002. There is a private garden behind the Guénégaud mansion. The two mansions were renovated in 2007. A further refurbishment then began on July 1, 2019 extending 250 m2 to the total surface, with six new rooms and a sixth floor, linking the two buildings.
 

The concept continues to be operating a museum which resembles a private mansion. Contemporary art and patrimonial collections are juxtaposed, treating different themes such as the relationship between mankind and animals, within an imagined or realistic context.

In the Mongelas mansion, the exhibition space on the second floor is being totally renovated, its windows reveal a clear view onto the roofs of the surrounding buildings of the Marais. Two distinct spaces are created which can be modulated for a rotating display of the museum’s treasures.

The public can continue their visit on the sixth floor of the adjoining Guénégaud mansion where a diorama of the relationship between mankind and nature - a series of glass display cases - painted by the young French artist François Maligny awaits them. Then four rooms, symbolically devoted to a different personality who heralded the understanding of nature and how to protect it, succeeds the diorama (Charles Darwin, Jakob von Uexküll, Aldo Leopold and Claude Lévi-Strauss). Here recent acquisitions of the Foundation François Sommer and special commissioned works by contemporary artists are shown.
 

The ground floor is now much more spacious and open to the interior courtyard, allowing for more fluidity for visitors to circulate between the two buildings. A bookshop and a cafe will also be installed. The large pedagogic space for school children and other groups has actually been doubled.

To celebrate the reopening of the museum, the contemporary French artist Damien Deroubaix will present his exhibition ‘La Valise d’Orphée’ where he confronts two universes : an extraordinary collection of tiny antique zoomorphic amulets from around the Mediterranean and a monumental décor of an ornamental grotto.
 

 

The museum is situated at 62, Rue des Archives, 75003 Paris.
Tel.: 01 53 01 92 40
Metro : Hôtel de Ville, Rambuteau
Bus    : 29, 68, 75
Open : Tuesdays to Sundays from 11pm – 18pm (last access 17.40) - Wednesdays 11pm – 22pm (last access 21.30)
Tickets : starting from 8€