The National Museum of Anthropology ( es, Museo Nacional de Antropología) is a

national museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

of Spain, located in Madrid near the

Parque del Buen Retiro The Buen Retiro Park (Spanish: ''Parque del Buen Retiro'', literally "Good retirement park"), Retiro Park or simply El Retiro is one of the largest parks of the city of Madrid, Spain. The park belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th ...

and opposite Atocha railway and metro station. It is considered the oldest anthropology museum in Spain, formally inaugurated on April 29, 1875, during the reign of Alfonso XII.

History

Dr Pedro González de Velasco promoted his project of a museum of Anatomy and assembled the early collections. The focus later passed from

physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally co ...

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portma ...

Structure

Each of its three floors is dedicated to a different subject: Calaveras Museo Atropológico-Madrid

* Ground floor. The Asia hall, devoting a special attention to the culture of the Philippines, a Spanish colony until 1898, with many items taken from an 1885 exposition in nearby Retiro Park. It also dedicates side rooms to temporary exhibitions and a cabinet of curiosities giving an impression of the early exhibitions including a plaster cast and the skeleton of the "Extremaduran Giant" ( Agustín Luengo Capilla), and statues and plaster casts of several racial types. * First floor. The Africa hall, with a prominent representation of the

culture of Equatorial Guinea While lying on the enriched continent of Africa, Equatorial Guinea has proved to be entrenched in ancient rituals and songs. This is especially true for the Fang, a people whose territories begin at the southern edge of Cameroon south of Krib ...

, a Spanish colony until 1959. Mestizo

* Second floor. The Americas hall, covering indigenous peoples of the Americas, with items like Jivaro

reduced head A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes. Headhunting has occurred in many regions of the world, but the practice of headshrinking has only been documented in the northwe ...

s, Andean Carnival masks, and

Inuit sun glasses Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and ...

. A lecture hall allows performances of traditional music and dances and lectures.

References

External links

Official siteMuseo Nacional de Antropología
within

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

* Anthropology museums National museums of Spain Museums in Madrid Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Madrid 1875 establishments in Spain Museums established in 1875 Buildings and structures in Jerónimos neighborhood, Madrid {{Spain-museum-stub