Created in 1929 by the Municipal Council of Funchal and hosting more than 41,000 varieties of animal species, it is the oldest museum in operation in the Madeira Islands.
Funchal’s Municipal Museum of Natural History was officially opened on October 5th, 1933, located inside São Pedro Palace, in Funchal, and is one of the most significant works of Portuguese civil architecture of the mid-eighteenth century, built by order of the Carvalhal family.
It was after its purchase by the city of Funchal, on 19/09/1929, that the following institutions were established: the Funchal Municipal Library, the Madeira Regional Museum and the Madeira Regional Archive.
At present only the Natural History Museum of Funchal, its Scientific Library and the Municipal Aquarium are in this building. The Aromatic and Medicinal Plants Garden is also a part of this building.
The Museum’s study collections currently reach over 41,166 samples, including species of fish, birds, sea and land mammals, marine reptiles, insects, and other invertebrates, plants and a representative collection of rocks and minerals from the archipelago, as well as marine fossils from Porto Santo.
The Municipal Aquarium, located on the ground floor of São Pedro Palace has 15 display tanks, where the most important elements of the coastal marine fauna of Madeira are represented. This area is temporarily closed for refurbishment works.
Over the 560 m2 of the Aromatic and Medicinal Plants Garden, visitors can observe dozens of medicinal and aromatic plants, as well as native plants of the archipelago.
