FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NY, February 20, 2015 —Lyon’s highly anticipated Confluences Museum has officially opened in the city’s glistening Quartier de la Confluence urban development and reclamation project. The museum, located in what was previously a neglected industrial area of the Lyon’s southern peninsula, has been reinvented into a green public space and institution dedicated to science, art and society. The museum features eight rooms with four permanent exhibition areas and four temporary exhibition areas that focus on topics such as: genetic modification, exchange and innovation, origins of life, biodiversity, global-warming, geopolitics and social behavior.
The museum’s collections are the legacy of the Natural History Museum of Lyon and the Guimet Museum in Lyon. They constitute a rich heritage, in terms of both volume and renown, in four domains: life sciences, earth sciences, social sciences, and science and technology. The collections are some of the richest in the world in the areas of natural sciences and extra-European ethnology and comprise more than 2.2 millions objects from between the 16th to the 21st centuries.
The building’s unique architectural design reflects the project’s purpose and goals. Located at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, the museum is a veritable urban forum and is composed of two architectural units, the crystal and the cloud, symbolizing respectively the known environment of today and the unforeseen future. Additionally, the museum has been designed to host and cater corporate events, symposiums and parties and has its own bookshop/boutique, a café and restaurant by two-star Michelin chef, Guy Lassausaie.
Single admission rate (permanent + temporary exhibitions): 9 € (full rate) and 6 € (reduced rate); Young people (18-25 years): 5 €; Single reduced admission rate for all from 17.00: 6 €. Free admission to those under 18 years, schools groups, students under 26 years and professionals.