Galerie de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie comparée

The Galerie de Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy inside the Jardin des Plantes is marked by a massive, sixty-meter-long glass roof that covers a floor plan resembling a basilica. When Albert Gaudry designed this space for the eighteen eighty-nine World Fair, he wanted to display the history of life as a grand parade. He arranged fossil skeletons in a procession down the central nave, mimicking the way animals walk, creating a physical timeline of evolution that remains largely unchanged since eighteen ninety-eight.