The museum was founded in 1889 as the paleontological museum of the city of Valencia. After suffering numerous changes of location throughout its history, since 1999 the collections were transferred the its current building at the Jardines del Real and was renamed as Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Valencia.
The origin of this museum is related to the generous donation of the private palaeontological collection of the Valencian engineer José Rodrigo Botet, who during his work in Argentina and Brazil collected a numerous mammal remains. This "classical" collection consists of 20 nearly complete skeletons and more than 5,000 bones belonging about 20 families of Quaternarian South-American mammals (most of them xenarthrans).
The museum also houses a remarkable collection of Neogene mammals from differents sites of the Valencian region, most prominent among which are the localities of Crevillent, Buñol and Venta del Moro. Some of the most notable mammal specimens belong to machairodonts, giraffids, antelopes, elephants and amphicyonids.
Dinosaurs and other Mesozoic vertebrates have their relevance in the collections of the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Valencia. The museum houses specimens from different Mesozoic localities from the region of Valencia, including Morella -where first discovered dinosaur remains in Spain- and different sites from Los Serranos.
The dinosaur specimens from Los Serranos are numerous, including the holotype of the sauropod Losillasaurus giganteus and many remains of theropods and stegosaurs.
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| Megatherium americanum at the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Valencia exhibition. |
The origin of this museum is related to the generous donation of the private palaeontological collection of the Valencian engineer José Rodrigo Botet, who during his work in Argentina and Brazil collected a numerous mammal remains. This "classical" collection consists of 20 nearly complete skeletons and more than 5,000 bones belonging about 20 families of Quaternarian South-American mammals (most of them xenarthrans).
The museum also houses a remarkable collection of Neogene mammals from differents sites of the Valencian region, most prominent among which are the localities of Crevillent, Buñol and Venta del Moro. Some of the most notable mammal specimens belong to machairodonts, giraffids, antelopes, elephants and amphicyonids.
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| The holotype of Losillasaurus giganteus. |
Dinosaurs and other Mesozoic vertebrates have their relevance in the collections of the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Valencia. The museum houses specimens from different Mesozoic localities from the region of Valencia, including Morella -where first discovered dinosaur remains in Spain- and different sites from Los Serranos.
The dinosaur specimens from Los Serranos are numerous, including the holotype of the sauropod Losillasaurus giganteus and many remains of theropods and stegosaurs.
