Gallery of Evolution

The building you are approaching was originally inaugurated in eighteen eighty-nine as the Gallery of Zoology, opening its doors just months after the Eiffel Tower. For much of the twentieth century, the structure fell into a state of severe disrepair, with its massive glass ceiling shattered and its precious natural history specimens left exposed to the elements. The facility eventually closed to the public in nineteen sixty-six, remaining a hollow, decaying shell for decades until a major architectural restoration transformed it into the current Grand Gallery of Evolution that reopened in nineteen ninety-four.