| La Station Zoologique | |
| Our laboratory is situated in a historical building constructed in 1769 as part of the military harbor of the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardaigna (Savoie). The building was used as a hospital and prison for galley slaves (mainly Turkish prisoners) manning the war boats built in the adjacent dry dock. In 1885, the Russian Academy of Science established a Marine Station in the building and experimental biologists (Korotneff, Vogt, Fol, Barrois ...) started to work on the planctonic and benthic fauna collected in the bay of Villefranche. To this day the bay is an exceptional natural receptacle for planctonic species. Since the 1920s the Zoological Station belongs to the University of Paris. It is now part of the Observatoire Oceanologique de Villefranche sur Mer, a grouping of laboratories organized in 3 departments (Geology, Oceanography/Ecology, Biology) sponsored by the Universities of Paris (Université P et M Curie) and Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNSA) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). |  Rade de Villefranche sur Mer (photo from our local photographer) |
 Station Zoologique seen from the beach |