History Originally Museum of Ethnography it changed of name while moving into the Palais de Chaillot in 1937 after the Universal Exhibition of Arts and Technology. But the very first collections go back to the cabinet of curiosities owned by french kings since the XVI th century. This Museum of Mankind is a very popular museum for its involvement into every official exploration expedition. Wherever french explorators went their discovery were later stored or displayed in the Musée de l'Homme. . Collection In this museum, you can find a wide range of subjects such as anthropology, ethnology, paleontology, along with more recent studies in genetic and linguistic. Paleonthology being a science bordering archeology, geology and the science of evolution this department has very close links with the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. A few figures about the collections: - about 35 000 skulls - several hundreds full skeletons - more than 500 000 items in the laboratory of Prehistory. Keeping up with its time some collections have been rearranged in a very attractive way such as: - The Gallery of The Night of Time in 1990 to illustrate the very slow progression ofknowledge through the long evolution of mankind. - The American Galleries renovated in 1992 take you into both a geographical trip from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego and a trip back into time about the history of native americans from prehistory to modern days. If the dust of time makes you thirsty a refreshing stop is advised in the Totem Café in the hall from where you are facing the Eiffel Tower on the other side of the Esplanade du Trocadéro.