The successor to the Guimet Museum in Lyon, the Confluences Museum is a museum of natural history and societies housed in a futuristic glass, concrete and stainless steel structure on the Quai Perrache, at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers. Its aim: to give every visitor the keys to understanding the complexity of the world.
It is worth a visit for its structure alone, with its glass floor at the centre of the building, the "Crystal" to the north which is its main entrance, and the "Cloud" or main building comprising eight exhibition rooms.
Four permanent exhibitions, distinct but complementary, "Origins", "Societies, the theatre of humanity", "Species, the network of life", and "Eternities, visions of the afterlife", bring nearly 3,000 pieces to life on 3,000 m² of floor space: what are the origins of the Universe? Of life on earth? What is the place of humans in the chain of life? How are societies organised? What is the place of death in different civilisations? These are all questions that the Confluences Museum tries to answer, by encouraging dialogue between palaeontology, mineralogy, zoology, ethnography, archaeology, science and technology. But what could be more impressive than finding yourself face to face with the famous mammoth of Choulans, a camarasaurus, the Australian dugong or the mummy of Taubasthis?
Temporary exhibitions, digital and experimental spaces, and auditoriums are all among the activities to enjoy at this unmissable museum, to help us understand our world and explain it to young ones. They will no doubt jump at the chance to touch a rhinoceros skull or a lunar meteorite!
