Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

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Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

The Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales ( MNCN : National Museum of Natural Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council ( CSIC ), dedicated to the study and dissemination of natural sciences, is located in the old Palace of Arts and Industry on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid .

Collections and Activities

The African elephant exhibited in the lobby of the museum was caught in Africa and prepared by Luis Benedito in 1929 and later restored. Today it is a symbol of the museum.

The museum's collections include more than six million copies. The staff consists of more than 300 people who work in research, exhibition and leadership. The museum focuses on the study, description and conservation of the biological and geological diversity of the world, for which it has six specialized departments:

It also integrates a documentation service, library and archive, media library and a series of didactic workshops.

In addition to research, its main function is to disseminate the natural sciences and develop educational aspects through publications and exhibitions, both at the headquarters in Madrid and in other parts of Spain through traveling exhibitions.

The permanent exhibitions have been grouped into three main sections, one of which is devoted to natural history (showing various aspects of biological evolution, including human evolution and the current relationship between humans and the environment); another section is devoted to the Mediterranean Sea (it includes biological or ecological as well as cultural aspects) and a section that reproduces the appearance of the former Royal Cabinet of Natural History. The total number of specimens preserved (including invertebrates, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, paleontology, etc.) exceeds six million.

Its collections include some historical examples, such as the Megatherium (came to Madrid from Argentina in 1789), the Diplodocus (a replica of the dinosaur that the American millionaire Andrew Carnegie gave to King Alfonso XIII) or hand-held dioramas of birds and mammals by the brothers Luis and José María Benedito, taxidermists of the museum from the first decades of the 20th century. Also noteworthy are some specimens of extinct animals, such as a stuffed pouch wolf .

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Web links

Commons : Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Luis Benedito finalizó la naturalización del elefante en 1930

Coordinates: 40 ° 26 ′ 26.5 "  N , 3 ° 41 ′ 22.6"  W.