Biodiversity in the making

The Herbarium of the National Museum of Natural History, in Paris, preserves millions of plant samples from all over the world. It is one of the richest in the world, but also one of the oldest.

Over the past four years, the Herbarium of the National Museum of Natural History has undergone an unprecedented metamorphosis: a renovation from floor to ceiling as well as the restoration, reclassification and digitisation of a large part of the 8 million specimens inventoried.

Playing a major role in biodiversity research, scientific studies continued during this titanic project with the return of missions from New Caledonia and Vietnam. From these collections, scientists are studying the influence of climate change on banana trees, the migration of plants in Oceania, or the genetics of cereals grown in Paris during the 1870 siege.

A team of filmmakers and photographers followed this epic journey. "Herbarium 2.0" focuses on the small human and scientific stories that open windows on the botanical collections normally closed to the public.