Since the end of the twentieth century the collections of the Musée Requien have been enriched by many donations from local collectors and throught the museum’s own efforts. Among the most remarkable are Requien’s, Loiseleur-Deslongchamps’and Jean-Henri Fabre’s herbaria, Bulot’s series of mid-Cretaceous ammonites, Pélissier’s carabids, and the brown bear fossils from Mont Ventoux.

A Renowned Scientist : Esprit Requien (1788-1852)

Esprit Requien a devoted botanist from an early age, whose herbarium rapidly gained and international reputation.

As a forerunner of phytosociology, he described the levels of vegetation of Mount Ventoux. His eclecticism extended more or less into all branches of science.

The great savants of his day paid him homage by naming species after him, and himself discovered of several genera. Besides his scientific pursuits, he was the inspector of historical monuments.

In this capacity, along with his friend Prosper Mérimée, he opposed the plans to demolish Avignon’s ramparts, which are today one of the highlights of the papal city.

The Museum

The Musée Requien maintains two permanent exhibitions, Plongée dans le temps (Submerged in time) and Faune vauclusienne (The Fauna of the Vaucluse).

From gypsum crystal to a giant white shark, delicate starfish to fish imprinted on stone, Plongée dans le temps bears witness to the evolution of paleo- and bio-diversity before the advent of human influence on the environment

Faune vauclusienne offers views of the richness of the two main animal habitats of the region, those of the rockly bluffs and riverside, and divulges the habits of the last great indigenous predators of the nineteenth century, the bear and the wolf.

In addition, the museum possesses a library of more than 18,000 volumes ; These include the library developed under Exprit Requien (works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and approximately 100 revues that may be consulted in situ, accessible upon demand.