Museo de Historia Natural de Valparaíso, Natural history museum in Valparaíso, Chile.
The Museo de Historia Natural de Valparaíso is a natural history museum in the city housed within Palacio Lyon and contains thousands of objects from natural sciences, history, archaeology, and anthropology. The palace rooms display regional collections that cover different aspects of local nature and the past.
The museum was established in 1878 and was at that time the first regional institution of its kind in Chile and the second oldest nationwide. This early founding made it an important place for preserving and presenting knowledge about the region.
The museum's name reflects its origins as a regional natural history institution, and the collection focuses on taxidermied animals and preserved specimens that show the wildlife of the area. The exhibition gives visitors a sense of which species are native here and how the natural world of the Valparaíso region appears.
The museum sits at a central location and maintains different opening hours depending on the day of the week. It helps to check ahead of your visit since it may be closed on certain days.
In 2023 this museum became the first institution of its kind in Chile to measure its carbon footprint, establishing new standards for environmentally conscious practices. This action shows how cultural institutions can actively participate in addressing environmental challenges.
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