Explorations : une affaire d’État ?

Come and explore three centuries of scientific and military adventure across time and space!

In 1763, France lost the Seven Years' War and, with it, its first colonial empire in America and Asia. Against a backdrop of international rivalry dominated by the maritime powers of England and the Netherlands, the monarchy seeks to reassert its position by supporting major expeditions around the world.

Over nearly 300 years, the exhibition explores the different forms that exploration takes: voyages, scientific missions, crossings, and expeditions. Aimed at traversing territories then unknown to Europeans, at establishing their existence or sometimes at claiming them, these enterprises are demanding and often dangerous. The military occupy a central place in them, mobilized for their skills in navigation, cartography, engineering, medicine, and security. The exhibition presents their objectives, their developments, and their successes and failures.