For over a century the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy has been fascinating and terrifying visitors with its massive cram of reconstructed animal skeletons. 

Top Places in Paris

Paris, France

Musée des Arts et Métiers

France's national museum of scientific and industrial instruments.

48.8666, 2.3555

Added by mbison

Paris, France

Musée Carnavalet

A museum on the history of Paris, including a set of Napoleon's toiletries, Proust's room, and relics of the Revolution.

48.8570, 2.3628

Added by Madiha Bataineh

Paris, France

Musée des Arts Forains

A museum of carnival attractions where you are invited to ride the rides.

48.8331, 2.3889

Added by mzed

See more things to do in Paris »

Established in 1898 in an effort to preserve a number of then-scattered scientific collections, the multi-floor galleries of fossils and bones present one of the most wide-ranging and comprehensive presentations of natural artifacts in the world. The museum is divided into two separate galleries, each with a staggering collection. The Gallery of Paleontology is filled with amazingly complete fossils and most impressively, a number of massive dinosaur skeletons arrayed amongst the buildings ornate glass and iron architecture. 

However the real show piece of the museum is the Gallery of Comparative Anatomy. In this section of the museum, over 1,000 animal skeletons are packed literally wall to wall in the massive gallery. The remains of each beast are faced in the same direction creating the illusion of an undead stampede as visitors enter the space. Horses, elephants, large cats and any number of other creatures are represented in the giant bone collection.

The Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy is actually part of France’s sprawling National Museum of Natural History which incorporates around 14 institutions around the country. While each site has its own focus an feel this may be the only part of the collective that features a skeleton stampede.