The Mineralogy Museum
For more than 200 years, in the Hôtel de Vendôme, the mineralogical collections of Mines Paris – PSL have been among the most comprehensive and spectacular in the world. They contain some 100,000 samples, including 4,000 on display, representing around 2,900 mineral species. Heir to the former collections of the École royale des Mines, the mineralogy collection represents a precious inventory of our planet’s geological diversity.
Identify the resources offered by nature
The “cabinet de minéralogie” was created in 1794 for the École, with the aim of bringing together “all the products of the globe and all the products of the Republic arranged in order of locality”.
From the outset, its aim was strategic, to identify nature’s potential resources with a view to using them in industry.
As the School’s memory, the collection is at once a database, a conservatory and a library.
Today, this collection is of crucial importance in addressing the strategic, geopolitical, societal and environmental issues surrounding the exploitation of natural resources and their use in new technologies.
One of the finest collections of minerals in the world
The museum has one of the world’s largest systematic collections and one of the four largest collections of type species (international reference for a mineral species).
Today, the museum presents not only this inventory of deposits and their resources, but also a geodiversity that ranks it among the largest museums in the world.
It also exhibits a historic collection of meteorites and gems.
Between art and science
Between art and science
The collection is an essential support for teaching and research, as well as serving as a means of scientific and cultural mediation on these themes.
These natural objects are also a source of artistic inspiration, in the image of Roger Caillois or George Sand. The museum therefore welcomes artists and organises art exhibitions, establishing a symbiosis between art and science.
