Museums - Musée d'Histoire Naturelle, Grenoble

This institution’s ethnological collection is made up primarily of objects from Africa and Oceania, with some additional material from South America, Asia, and Europe. The Oceanic pieces at the museum date from the nineteenth century and include drums, paddles, fans, ornaments, and tapas. These high-quality objects were collected in the New Zealand, the Marquesas Islands, Tonga, Fiji, and New Caledonia by travelers native to Grenoble during voyages to the Pacific. Tardy de Montravel sailed on the corvettes Astrolabe and Zélée, and made a gift to the museum of the objects he collected in 1841. Louis Arnoux, Navy surgeon aboard the corvette Le Rhin, returned with an interesting collection of Marquesas and New Zealand objects, which he gave to the museum in 1846. African and Asian pieces were the gift of Tardy de Montravel. In all, the museum holds some 1,800 pieces, most of which are not exhibited.