narrow and the director of the time, Edward Dupont, entrusted the architect Charles-Emile Janlet the construction of a new southern wing. Work began in 1898 and ended in October 1905. The new rooms were specially designed to accommodate the new collections. In 1950, several modern buildings were added to house new exhibition and storage rooms, as well as premises for the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, the research centre of which the museum is now part. Since 2007, the completely renovated and enlarged Dinosaur Hall (the Janlet wing) of has been the largest dinosaur hall in the world. Permanent exhibitions The Dinosaur Hall: with the world-famous Iguanodon skeletons (30 almost complete skeletons) Of Men and Mammoths: about the evolution of man and about the last ice age in Western Europe. The Mammal Gallery: recent and extinct mammals, including a thylacine. The North and South Pole: a view of two different worlds in a (plexi)glass tunnel. The Whale Hall: skeletons of whales, dolphins, walruses, sirenians, and seals. A small part of the hall is devoted to the whales' role in the economy and their sacrifices to it. The Shell Gallery houses a tropical aquarium and a complete survey of the lower classes of invertebrates. The nearby North Sea Discovery Room takes visitors on an interactive tour around beach and sea life at the Belgian coast. The entire collection consists of 9,000,000 specimens and is one of the three biggest shell collections in the world. A great deal was collected by Philippe Dautzenberg. The Insect Gallery: insects, spiders, crustaceans and other arthropods, including a vivarium with living specimens. The collection consists of 15,000,000 specimens of which ten thousands are holotypes of great scientific value. The Mineral Gallery: crystals, cut gems, meteorites and precious bits of moon rock. The Ishango bone, a prehistoric bone counting tool. In addition to these permanent exhibitions, there are also temporary exhibitions which are always highly interactive. See also Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) Geological Survey of Belgium Edmond de Sélys Longchamps History of Brussels Belgium in "the long nineteenth century" References Notes External links The museum's official website Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences on Google Cultural Institute Visiting Dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium Museums in Brussels Natural history museums Dinosaur museums European quarter of Brussels Shell museums Insectariums 1846 establishments in Belgium Museums established in 1846 Organisations based in Belgium