Dioramas of animals from  France and from the 5 continents.

  The 4th of  September is an important day for the community because it’s the festival of the patron saint Rosalie. Coincidence or destiny, the 4th of September 1994, the daily newspaper « Nice Matin » published an article which will be a milestone in the history of the castle museum.
  In fact , Laurent Rebaudengo , resident of  Monaco, displayed his private collection of stuffed animals, a real Noah’s Ark, and announced that he wished to donate them to a local collectivity or a public establishment. After retiring from public security in Monaco and  having  previously worked in the principality’s zoo ,through a network of acquaintances he was informed of any animal which died either in Monaco, in other zoos or in stock farms, and he would exercise his talents as a taxidermist to restore these animals.
    Jean Canestrier, at that time president of the « friends of the castle » association ( association which aims to  animate  the castle with cultural events and enrich the museum collections) hastened to contact him.
   He was seduced  by the castle’s beauty spot and the project presented by Lionel Carlès, curator of the museum and even though different regional and national museums (amongst the most prestigious) were interested, he decided to donate his entire collection to Tourrette-Levens. The collection consists of 300 animals, not only originating from France, but also the 5 continents, and represents  a truly scientific and cultural patrimony.
  The 15th of April 1995, the mayor signed the donation act at the town hall in the presence of the parish council, the « friends of the castle » association and the local Tourrettan people.
  The dioramas  have been faithfully constructed to represent the natural habitat of the animals and their décor and sculptures have been created benevolently by Gilbert Carlès.
  On the 30th of July 1995, the first display room of dioramas, representing fauna from France, was inaugurated and the second, representing fauna from the 5 continents, on the 6th of July. During the following years , the parish nd the « friends of the castle » association along with their president Francis Baillet have respected their obligations to enrich the collections of the natural history museum by acquiring new specimens.

            1998 will be remembered for a wonderful donation of 250 boxes of insects  from the reserve collection of the National Institute for agronomical research. The deeply regretted fellow citizen Jean-Pierre Marro,former engineer of the institute , who was the principal agent under the guidance of Antoine Dalmasso, director of the laboratory of invertebrates,and Jean-Michel Rabasse, in charge of the division of « biology of the populations ».

   This tremendous collection represents approximately 3000 species of coleopterons and butterflies from France, well defined and classified. Made up partially from a former collection dating back to the beginning of the 20th century,  containing a large number of rare species , of which certain are in danger of extinction or considered today ( concerning certain cavernicoles species) as extinct.