Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale, Musee Francois Tillequin



The Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale, also known as the Musee Francois Tillequin, was founded in 1882 with a collection of laboratory and pharmacy objects plus natural substances that were utilised for the production of drugs, and this one of the unusual Paris museums that portrays the history of medicine from this aspect.

Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale History



There are so many different items to discover at the Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale, which was first installed in the Faculty of Pharmacy back in 1882 in its current location, but some of the items on display date from far earlier, and in fact, right back to 1763.
Musee de Matiere Medicale
The idea was to have a collection that would be accessible to students for future chemists, pharmacists and researchers, which grew over time, especially with the development of travel and trade, meaning samples of vegetables and herbs could be collected from other parts of the world, rather than just France and Europe.

The Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale, or Musee Francois Tillequin, was considerably expanded in the 19th century thanks to samples provided from the universal exhibitions of 1855, 1867, 1878 and 1889, which are referred to as the World Fairs in Paris and this latter one was when the Eiffel Tower was constructed for this event.

As time went on, samples started to come from the French colonies and from scientific expeditions, and more recently different universities and research institutes from all over the world would provide exchanges of different materials for example, Thailand, Greece, Cameroon, etc.

Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale Today



You can now discover over 1300 samples of old drugs, which provide a rich history of medicine and a collection from China that was originally formed for the 1889 Universal Exhibition in Paris, which is called an Exposition Universalle in French.

There are old herbal drugs from the Ottoman Empire, a collection from a botanical garden in Madagascar, others from Brazil and Brussels, which total thousands of different samples, along with items such as old acupuncture charts and more.

In fact, today, the Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale is considered one of the largest in the world and contains about 25,000 samples of mainly plant origin, but also some animal products, with the most emblematic samples being on the therapeutic level, which are accompanied by many objects, often unusual, illustrating their harvest, transport and use.

But for those of us who are not scientifically minded, the Collection by Monograph is probably going to be the most interesting part of the Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale museum to the uninitiated tourist, which is located near the entrance to the museum and displays spices such as pepper and cinnamon, plants such as those for cocoa and tea.
There are also numerous objects such as poison arrows, muscle relaxants, blowguns and more, to be discovered, for a completely different and unusual Paris tourist attraction to visit, if you happen to be on holiday while it is one of the national heritage days in France.

Access to the Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale



The Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale, also known as the Musee Francois Tillequin, is located by the Jardins des Grands Explorateurs and very close to the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is one of the fabulous Paris gardens, and this is situated within the Universite Paris Descartes.

Unfortunately, we would like to point out that this Paris museum is only open to tourists on certain days of the year such as Science Day or the National Heritage days, and at all other times it is closed to the general public.

If you are lucky enough to discover the Paris Musee de Matiere Medicale, or Musee Francois Tillequin collections, then you will find this unusual museum located in the 6th Arrondissement and it is easy to reach via Paris public transport.

You will find that the nearest Metro stations are the Vavin stop serving line 4 or the Notre-Dame des Champs stop serving line 12, whereas if you are travelling into Paris via train then the nearest RER train stations are either the Luxembourg stop or the Port-Royal stop, both serving the RER B line.

Alternatively the Paris bus lines 21, 27, 38, 58, 68, 82, 83 and 91 along with the Noctilien Night Bus Service via lines N01, N14, N21 and N122 will also get you close by to this and numerous other tourist attractions such as the Fontaine des Quatre Parties du Monde also known as the Carpeaux Fountain.