Paris Musée national de la Marine Unveils 'L'appel des profondeurs' Exhibition on the Abyss from Antiquity to Today

Key facts

• Exhibition runs from October 14, 2026, to April 4, 2027, at the Musée national de la Marine, Paris.
• The exhibition is titled 'L'appel des profondeurs. Une aventure sous les mers de l'Antiquité à nos jours'.
• It features approximately 280 objects, including biological specimens, archaeological artifacts, ethnographic collections, manuscripts, scientific instruments, ship models, paintings, photographs, sculptures, and installations.
• The exhibition is the centerpiece of a program of five exhibitions across the network of national maritime museums.
• Four thematic rooms are dedicated to foundational myths, the octopus, sunken worlds, and the siren.
• The abyss remains visually explored at only 0.001%.
• The first scientific expedition to the deep sea was in 1872 with the HMS Challenger.
• Contemporary artists Monira Al Qadiri, Anselm Kiefer, Elsa Guillaume, and Jonàs Forchini are featured, addressing issues like oil industry, historical metaphors, ecological concerns, and impact of human activities on seabeds.
• Other museums in Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort, and Toulon will host related exhibitions on cartography, submersibles, naval machinery, and the Mediterranean littoral.
• Notable loans include a plaque from Milo depicting Scylla (circa 475-450 BC) from the Louvre and a zoomorphic crest mask from the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.
• The exhibition references Jules Verne's 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas' (1870) with illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou, James Cameron's 'The Abyss' (1989), and Aquaman comics (1941).