The bestiary of treasures from the BnF. We went there: here are our pictures:

A rhinoceros armored in scales, engraved by a man who had never seen one: the Rhinoceros by Albrecht Dürer, imagined from a simple story, already says it all. For humans, animals are as much dreamed of as observed. This is the story that the BnF museum unfolds in the Mazarin Gallery, under the title Animal Stories. From the Middle Ages to the present day, animals permeate the arts, sciences, and literature. He is cunning in the Roman de Renart, terrifies in the guise of the Beast of Gévaudan, observes himself in Audubon's life-size birds, and then softens with Jean de Brunhoff's Babar's Travels.

Manuscripts, prints, musical scores, watercolors: a whole bestiary of paper emerges from the archives. A moral mirror, game, a marker of prestige, then a cherished companion, the animal reveals our beliefs as much as our appetites. When Pierre Boulle imagines monkeys overturning the hierarchy of species, or when biodiversity enters the narrative, it is the growing weight of humankind on the living world that comes to the fore.

Too fragile for the light, the works do not remain in place: the exhibition will be renewed three times during the year. First the cat, then the dog, with the manuscript in which Colette entrusts the story to Toby and the Flasque Preludes (for a dog) by Erik Satie. Zoos that one enters through a gallery from the Grand Siècle are rare.

BNF RICHELIEU
From September 18, 2026 to August 29, 2027
5 rue Vivienne, 75002 - Metro: Bourse (Line 3)
Tue. 10am-8pm, Wed. to Sun. 10am-6pm
Closed Mon. - Admission: €15 - Reduced rate: €10
Free for under 26s