Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wooden statue of Iguanodon at the entrance

The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences is a museum in the Belgian capital of Brussels dedicated to natural history. Its most important pieces are 30 fossilized Iguanodon skeletons, which were discovered in 1878 in Bernissart. Another famous piece is the Ishango bone.

Like in most museums, there is a research department and a public exhibit department.

Major renovation works are taking place at the moment. From 2007 on, a completely renovated and enlarged dinosaur hall (the Janlet wing) of 4580 m² will be the biggest dinosaur hall in the world.

[edit] Permanent exhibitions

The Dinosaur hall: with the world famous Iguanodon skeletons (30 almost complete skeletons)
Of Men and Mammoths: about the evolution of man and about the last ice age in western Europe.
The Mammal Gallery: recent and extinct mammals, including a Thylacine.
The North and South Pole: a view of two different worlds in a (plexi)glass tunnel.
The Whale Hall: skeletons of whales, dolphins, walruses, sirenians, seals... A small part of the hall is devoted to the whales' role in the economy and their sacrifices to it.
The Shell Gallery houses a tropical aquarium and a complete survey of the lower classes of invertebrates. The nearby North Sea Discovery Room takes you on an interactive tour around beach and sea life at the Belgian coast. The entire collection consists of 9 000 000 specimens and is one of the three biggest shell collections in the world. A great deal was collected by Philippe Dautzenberg.
The Insect Gallery: insects, spiders, crustaceans and other arthropods, including a vivarium with living specimens. The collection consists of 15 000 000 specimens of which ten thousands are holotypes of great scientific value.
The Mineral Gallery: crystals, cut gems, meteorites and precious bits of moon rock.
The Ishango bone, a prehistoric bone counting tool