Animal culte at Musée des Confluences: 330 objects question human-animal relations

The Musée des Confluences in Lyon presents Animal culte from October 16, 2026 to August 15, 2027. The exhibition brings together 330 objects and specimens to ask whether humans live with animals or at their expense. Adored, domesticated, imitated, eaten, and placed under glass, the beast traverses the galleries in all these states simultaneously, and the boundary between what belongs to worship and what belongs to use quickly becomes blurred. Visual and sound works are interspersed among the specimens, disrupting conventional classification. The ten-month run allows visitors to return across multiple seasons. A museum whose reputation was built on display cases now questions what it owes to those held within them. The Musée des Confluences is located at 86 quai Perrache, 69002 Lyon. Opening hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Admission ranges from 0 to 12 euros. The exhibition is part of the museum's regional programming, and further regional exhibitions can be found in the Régions section.