Panama History Museum, National museum in Casco Antiguo, Panama

The Panama History Museum occupies a historic building in Casco Antiguo and displays colonial artifacts, historical documents, and national symbols across several exhibition areas. The rooms contain items spanning different periods of Panama's past, from early trade to the modern era.

The museum was founded in 1977 and has housed collections on Panama's past, focusing on the colonial period and the nation's development. Major renovations in the 1990s and 2010s expanded the exhibition spaces and improved preservation conditions.

The museum's name recalls the isthmus's own past: the first Panamanian flag it displays was sewn by María Ossa de Amador, wife of Manuel Amador Guerrero, and the original score of the Himno Istmeño, as the national anthem was first called, is also kept here. The Coat of Arms on view was designed by Nicanor Villalaz.

The museum occupies the ground floor of the Palacio Municipal Demetrio H. Brid, facing the Plaza de la Independencia in Casco Antiguo; the same building houses the Consejo Municipal. The three permanent rooms follow one another in historical order: Colonial, then Departmental, then Republican, so a visit in that sequence matches the chronology. The 2012 renovation corrected wall and ceiling leaks and replaced the air conditioning.

The flag replica was sewn by María Ossa de Amador, wife of Manuel Amador Guerrero, the first president; the coat of arms on display shows the original design by Nicanor Villalaz alongside later changes. The anthem scores are kept under its first title, Himno Istmeño.