Add a review about the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid

The Spanish National Museum of Natural Sciences is very old. It was founded in the middle of the 18th century by one of the Spanish monarchs for the storage of rarities. Now, two and a half centuries later, the collection has grown, decorated with some interesting finds and turned into a wonderful place for children and adults.

Natural history museums are usually visited by travelers with children, which is natural: there are very few children in nature who will be left behind indifferent, for example, the skeleton of a diplodock in full size. There is such a one - as much as 26 m long, his name is Dippi. In addition to Dippy, there are other large exhibits, some of them replicas, some of them are real dinosaurs or, more precisely, skeletons of dinosaurs.

The museum was founded in 1772, grew rapidly, and several smaller museums separated from it. Now he occupies one building with one of the faculties of the University of Madrid.

In addition to Diplodocus Dippy, there is a skeleton of a striped whale and a lot of smaller animals, and besides them - ancient plants, insects, amphibians, etc.

Exposition

The collection consists of several large parts.

The most impressive is the exposition "Minerals, shells and human evolution". This is the main part of the museum, there are skeletons of prehistoric animals and prehistoric people, collections of shells and minerals

The second part of the collection is dedicated to the Mediterranean - its nature and the development of civilization here

Another interesting part is the reconstruction of the Royal Cabinet of Natural History, from which this museum began. There are historical exhibits. The largest element is a stuffed Asian elephant, one of the oldest in the world, it was made in the middle of the 18th century.

Most of the museum is devoted to educational programs for children. There are a lot of them, most of them are free.

The museum is surrounded by a park, and there are two interesting expositions. The training park "Mediterranean Forest" is dedicated to the local vegetation, you can see what plants are growing here - they are planted in the ground, imitating the wildlife. It turned out a small piece of untouched forest right in the middle of the Spanish capital. The second exposition is an exhibition of prehistoric stones and petrified tree trunks. It is called "Garden of Stones."

There are many interesting things in this museum. In addition to Diplodocus Dippy, there is a skeleton of a striped whale (here it is quite real) and a lot of smaller animals, and besides them - plants, insects, amphibians and much more. There are large collections of paleobotany, primitive invertebrates and ancient history.

The museum hosts many temporary exhibitions on natural science topics. Approximately half of them are imported, here there are exhibits from the best museums in the world.

Collection overview

Practical information

Address: Madrid, Jose Gutierrez Abascal, 2, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales.

You can reach the metro by Gregorio Maranon, Nuevos Ministerios, Rios Rosas and Republica Argentina.

Ticket price: 7 EUR for adults and 3 EUR for children (for autumn 2014)

Opening hours: The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, Tuesday to Friday and Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00, on Saturday from 10:00 until 20:00 (but in July and August the museum closes on Saturdays earlier, at 15:00).