Natural History Museum of Vernet-les-Bains

In the heart of Romanesque Catalonia , at the foot of the majestic Canigou , the Natural History Museum of Vernet-les-Bains invites visitors to discover the history of our planet, through the traces of life left on the rocks and the rocks themselves.

The Museum of Geology and Paleontology, conceived by André Trochon, an amateur but highly knowledgeable geologist, was established in Vernet-les-Bains in 1960, where he housed his collections. In 1999, with the collections growing ever larger, the municipality of Vernet offered him a space commensurate with his discoveries, located beneath the Vernet-les-Bains Casino (the establishment's former cellars). This space provided 280 square meters to house his 130 display cases in five different rooms. Today, some 10,000 specimens are gathered there, collected over 35 years of research. In 2013, concerned about the dispersal of his collection, he contacted the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) to present his work and donate his entire collection of minerals and paleontology. An agreement was then signed between the Vernet-les-Bains Town Hall and the MNHN, guaranteeing the preservation and maintenance of these two collections.