The Harmas de Fabre, also known as the Musée Harmas Jean-Henri Fabre, is a museum,

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

, and

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

located on the Route d'Orange,

Sérignan-du-Comtat Sérignan-du-Comtat (; ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. Until 1944, it was known simply as Sérignan. In 2020, it had a population of 2,856. On 1 January 2017, together ...

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is open daily except Wednesday in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged. The museum contains the house and the garden of naturalist and entomologist

Jean Henri Fabre Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre (; 21 December 1823 – 11 October 1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, and author known for the lively style of his popular books on the lives of insects. Biography Fabre was born on 21 December 1823 in Saint ...

(1823-1915) who moved into this house in 1879, after which he devoted the rest of his life to the study of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

. The word ''harmas'' means "fallow ground" in

Provençal Provençal may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Provence, a region of France ** Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France ** ''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language * Provenca ...

. In 1922 the ''Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle'' acquired the site, and in 1955 nearly 700

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

s, hand painted by Fabre, were found in attics of Harmas by his grandson. In 1998 the site was classified as a ''monument historique''; restored by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, it opened to the public in 2006. Today the museum contains Fabre's collections of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

s, 594

s of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

s, manuscripts, a private

of more than 20,000 specimens including plants harvested by Fabre during his stay in

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

(1849-1852), and the small table on which his manuscripts were written, most notably the ''Souvenirs Entomologiques''. The gardens contain 20 historic trees and over 500 plant

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, as well as trails and a pool, and a small cold

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

built in 1880.

References

Harmas de Fabre

* ttp://www.gralon.net/tourisme/loisirs-culturels/info-musee-harmas-jean-henri-fabre-serignan-du-comtat-5742.htm Gralon entry (French)
Harmas de Jean Henri Fabre - Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle - Sérignan-du-Comtat (French)
* French Wikipedia entry ''Harmas de Jean-Henri Fabre'' {{Coord, 44, 11, 15, N, 4, 50, 26, E, type:landmark_region:FR, display=title Harmas de Fabre Harmas de Fabre Maisons des Illustres

See also

References