1912年,法国天主教神甫黎桑(1876～1952),就开始研究中国黄河流域、内蒙古、西藏地区的地质、动植物区系的情况,并提出要在中国北方建立博物馆的计划。
        1914年3月25日,黎桑到达天津,以圣路易斯路(今营口道)的崇德堂为基地,独自在河北、山西两省进行考察、采集、探险、发掘工作。他专为自己起了一个中国名字,叫桑志华。并主持创建北疆博物院,这是我国早期的博物馆之一。
        1918年春天,桑志华又到陕北、甘肃、青海进行考察,历时一年。他采集的标本和发掘的化石,雇用7辆马车及18匹骡子拉载、驮运。另外,他还搞到了一系列哺乳动物的皮张、形态各异的昆虫标本、矿物标本等2000余件。其中,还有极其珍贵的1919年在甘肃庆阳发现的蓬蒂期动物化石。
        1920年,桑志华继续在我国西北地区进行大规模的发掘。首次发现旧石器时代打制的石器。只是采集的化石一项,就雇用了83头骆驼往回运。他把部分典型标本寄到法国巴黎博物馆进行鉴定。
        经过8年的采集,桑志华所获大量动物化石、石器、不计其数的标本,存满了崇德堂的大部分房间和地下室。于是,于正在建设中的工商学院内(今马场道117号天津外语学院)建立正式博物馆。1922年,第一座楼落成; 1928年又建成一座陈列厅,正式对外开放。
        博物馆建筑面积1 640平方米,平面呈“工”形; 北楼3层,南楼3层,两楼之间用跨空封闭式天桥相连; 陈列室采用中心牛腿柱框架结构,设计独特,具有罗马式建筑风格。是天津市文物保护单位。
        馆内的陈列厅一楼,珍藏有地质学、岩石学、地层学、生物学的各种标本,大型动物骨架化石; 二楼珍藏有动物学、植物学、人类学的各种标本,仅鸟类标本就多达400余种。特别是1919年甘肃庆阳发现的旧石器时代遗物尤为珍贵。河套古人类化石,即由该院研究鉴定而定名。
        此后,桑志华仍不停地进行考察、采集、发掘和研究工作; 并有其他专家参与其中。如中外学者杨仲健、裴文中、德日进等,曾经在此做过卓有成效的研究。到1935年时,北疆博物院的动产和不动产总值,约有100万美元。正如有的专家所说的: “北疆博物院是用四分之一世纪呕心沥血建成的,从无到有,功绩巨大。”抗日战争开始时,桑志华才停止考察研究,回到法国。
        该博物院当时在世界上有一定影响。中国古生物学家杨仲健称其为“世界上第一流的博物馆” 。
        解放后党和政府对该馆十分关心,周恩来总理曾多次作过重要指示。天津市先后两次投入大量人力、物力,在北疆博物院的基础上,异地在佟楼一带,建成中国最大的自然博物馆。连同原北疆博物院的馆藏,共有标本40余万件,图书3万余册。

        

·北疆博物院

        In 1912,the French catholic priest Emile Licent(1876-1952) started to investigate the geology,plantsand creatures in the areas of the Yellow river,Tibet andInner Mongolia. He proposed a plan to build a museumin North China.
        On March 25,1914,he arrived in Tianjin. TakingChongde Church on St Louis Road as his citadel (nowYingkou Road),he started by himself the work ofinvestigating,information collecting and exploringHebei and Shanxi provinces. He collected so manyspecimens and fossils that he hired seven horse-drawncarriages and 18 mules to carry them back to Tianjin. Healso collected more than 2000 skins of mammals,insectspecimens and mineral fossils. Among these there wereprecious fossils of animals living in the Pengdi Period.Those precious fossils were found in 1919 in Qingyangin Gansu Province.
        In 1920 Sang Zhihua (a Chinese name of EmileLicent ) continued his exploring in northwest China.He was the first person who found the stoneware madein Old Stone Age. He made so many collections thathe hired 83 camels to carry fossils only. He sent sometypical specimens to Paris Museum in France foraccrediting.
        After eight years of collection,Sang Zhihua filledmost of the rooms and basements in Chongde Churchwith animal fossils,stoneware and specimens. Therefore,he built a formal museum in the Trade and CommerceCollege (located now in Tianjin Foreign LanguagesCollege at No. 117 on Machang Road) which was still inconstruction at that time. In 1922,the first building forthe museum was completed. In 1928,an exhibition hallwas formally built and was open to the public.
        The museum covered a construction area of 1640square meters. It was shaped like a Chinese character"Gong". There were three stories in both the northernand the southern buildings. The two buildings wereconnected through an enclosed overpass. The exhibitionhall was in unique Roman style and of bull-leg framestructure in the center. It was a culture relic protectionunit of Tianjin.
        The first floor of the exhibition hall treasured upmany kinds of geologic,lithologic,stratigraphic andbiologic specimens and large-sized animal skeletonfossils. The second floor treasured up many zoologic,botanical and anthropologic specimens,including morethan 400 bird specimens. Among these treasures,therelics of the Old Stone Age found at Qingyang in Gansuin 1919 were quite rare. Hetao PalaeoanthropologyFossil was accredited and named by this museum.
        After that,Sang Zhihua continued his collection,investigation and research. Many experts also joinedhim,including Yang Zhongjian,Pei Wenzhong andDe Rijin etc. The experts made great contributions tothe museum. By 1935,the total value of its estate andcurrent assets reached around 1 million USD. Someexperts said that Musee Hongho Paiho was startedfrom scratch and had made great achievements with thefull devotion of experts in a quarter of a century. SangZhihua stopped his research and returned to France afterthe anti-Japanese war broke out.
        Musee Hongho Paiho had great influence in theworld. Yang Zhongjian,a Chinese paleontologist calledit "a museum of first rank in the world".
        After the liberation,the Communist party and thegovernment paid much attention to the museum. PremierZhou Enlai gave important instructions to it many times.Tianjin government had invested a great deal of laboringand financial support twice to enlarge it. On the basisof Musee Hongho Paiho,Tianjin Nature Museum,thelargest museum in China was rebuilt around Tonglouarea. It housed more than 400 thousands specimens andmore than 30 thousands books,including all that hadbeen treasured in Musee Hongho Paiho.