The Museum of Natural Sciences was founded on 31 March 1846 as a descendant of the Brussels Museum of Natural History (), often called the Brussels Museum (). This institution had been founded in 1802 and was itself based on the collection assembled at the end of the 18th century by
Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine. The scientist and politician
Bernard du Bus de Gisignies became the museum's first director in 1846, and on this occasion, he donated 2,474 birds from his own collection to the museum. supervising the mounting of an
Iguanodon skeleton, In 1860, during the construction of new fortifications around
Antwerp, several
fossils were found, mainly of whales, and they were acquired by the museum. The museum also obtained the skeletons of a
bowhead whale (
Balaena mysticetus) and a young
blue whale (
Balaenoptera musculus), which are still on display today. The same year, the
skeleton of a mammoth was unearthed near
Lier, Belgium, and due to the prompt action of the archaeologist
François-Joseph Scohy, it was preserved and brought to the museum, where it has been exhibited since 1869. At that time, the only other skeleton of a mammoth on display was in the museum of
Saint Petersburg in Russia. In 1878, the largest find of
Iguanodon fossils to date occurred in a coal mine in
Bernissart, Belgium. At least 38
Iguanodon (
Iguanodon bernissartensis) skeletons were uncovered, at a depth of , of which 30 were brought back to the museum and put on display. They were mounted by the palaeontologist
Louis Dollo and set the standard that was followed for over a century. Found alongside the
Iguanodon skeletons were the remains of plants, fish, and other reptiles, Between 1889 and 1891, the museum moved from its original home at the
Palace of Charles of Lorraine into a former convent located on the heights of
Leopold Park. The building quickly became too small, so the director of the time, Edward Dupont, commissioned the architect Charles-Emile Janlet to design a new south wing. Work began in 1898 and was completed in October 1905. The new rooms were specially designed to accommodate the new collections. In 1950, several modern buildings designed by the architect
Lucien De Vestel were added to house new exhibition and storage rooms, as well as premises for the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences ( or IRSNB, or KBIN), the research centre of which the museum is now part. Between 2003 and 2009, the museum underwent an extensive renovation and modernisation programme. The large exhibition hall was restored to its original state while taking into account the museum's contemporary needs. Accessibility from the main entrance to the large exhibition hall was improved, connection between the Cloister wing and the Janlet wing was restored, and the monumental staircase was rebuilt. A new "circulation tower" was also added to enhance internal movement throughout the complex. The fully renovated and enlarged Dinosaur Hall reopened to the public in 2007. In 2020, the two upper floors of the Cloister wing, which now houses the
Living Planet permanent gallery, were also renovated. Concurrently, a new stairwell and
lift were installed between the Janlet wing and the
Gallery of Humankind to facilitate access for
persons with reduced mobility. ==Exhibits==