Deyrolle, taxidermy and entomology on the rue du Bac since 1831

Deyrolle, the taxidermy and entomology house now on the rue du Bac, was founded in 1831 by Jean-Baptiste Deyrolle at 23 rue de la Monnaie. On 1 April 1888, under Émile Deyrolle, the founder’s grandson, it moved to 46 rue du Bac, into a town house built in 1697 to 1699.

Around 1871, Émile Deyrolle developed teaching materials and the coloured wall charts that illustrated object lessons in French schools. André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Bernard Buffet, Louise de Vilmorin and Théodore Monod were among its regulars. In 2010 Woody Allen filmed scenes of Midnight in Paris there.

The painter Richard Marolle bought the house in 1995; Louis Albert de Broglie took it over in 2001 and in 2007 revived the teaching charts, now devoted to the environment. On the night of 1 February 2008, a fire destroyed the insect collections and much of the mounted animals. Supported by artists from Nan Goldin to Sophie Calle, the house reopened in the autumn of 2009.

At 46 rue du Bac, in the 7th arrondissement, the shop presents mounted animals, butterflies and insects, minerals, fossils, shells and teaching charts, and hosts exhibitions by artists.