The Musée d'histoire naturelle de Lille is a science and natural history museum of the city of Lille. Opened in 1822, it is now the only museum of its kind in the Haute-Haute-France region. The museum preserves a vast collection, divided into different sectors: zoological (with about 210,000 different species); geological (with about 200,000 different samples); ethnographic (with mainly non-European samples, including ancient objects, exceptional evidence of the civilizations of Oceania, Africa, Asia and Amerindians); and finally the "science and technology" sector, which includes about 40,000 samples and 20,000 works. In addition, the museum annually organizes two large temporary thematic exhibitions, an opportunity to exhibit works that are not normally found in the permanent collection. The four different collections that make up the museum want to testify to the beauty, complexity and diversity of the terrestrial world. Attention is also drawn to the fragility of ecological balances and to the problem of the extinction of animal species.