Museums - Musée d'Histoire Naturelle et d'Ethnographie, Colmar

Founded in 1859 by the Société d’Histoire Naturelle de Colmar, this museum is housed in a twelfth century building and contains a rich collection of ethnographic objects given by Alsatian donors, who brought them back from four continents in the nineteenth century. Particularly important objects include a group from the Marquesas Islands, collected by Navy artillery lieutenant Daniel Rohr. This consists of an ancestor skull, a tortoise-shell crown, a New Caledonian mask, and numerous Fijian clubs. The African section contains weapons and sculptures from Cameroon, Gabon, and Mali. Only a portion of the Oceanic and American Indian collections are on permanent display.