All about Museo de Historia Natural in Mérida (2025 Guide)

Just to be clear from the start – I’ve always had a soft spot for museums and a genuine interest in history, so places like this naturally land on my personal bucket list.

The Museo de Historia Natural in Mérida, founded in 1987, is housed in an early 20th-century building next to the Parque Zoológico del Centenario, making it easy to combine both visits.

The Natural History Museum of Mérida offers a fascinating look at the region's flora and fauna, presenting their history in an engaging way. It also hosts workshops, courses, events, and guided tours, especially for schools.

By the way, the museum tends to draw a good number of visitors. Each year, it welcomes around 35,000 to 40,000 visitors, including approximately 13,000 children from school groups and organized tours.

What to See at the Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum has seven exhibition rooms:

• The Room of the Universe,

• the Paleozoic Era,

• the Mesozoic Era,

• the Cenozoic Era,

• a Audiovisual Room,

• a Room of the Ecological Reserve of Cuxtal,

• and the Alacranes Stariff Room.

In addition to its seven permanent exhibitions, the museum features a dedicated space for temporary exhibits. This space is available to research centers, universities, environmental organizations, and private collections.

The rotating exhibitions focus on:

• natural history,

• natural resource conservation,

• and flora and fauna research.

The History of the Museum Building

What I also find fascinating is the building itself – originally a private residence in the early 20th century, it later served as Mérida’s main nursing school for several years. The space has always had a public role, evolving along with the needs of the city.

From 1951 onward, it became home to a school for aeronautical mechanics and then a military hospital. Finally, in 1987, the city transformed it into the Museo de Historia Natural de Mérida – and that’s what it remains to this day.

Online Ressources

The museum also has an online presence:

• Website of the Museo de Historia Natural

• Museo de Historia Natural on Facebook

Parque Zoológico del Centenario

The museum, as mentioned earlier, is located right next to Parque Zoológico del Centenario, Mérida’s oldest zoo. Originally founded in 1910 as a botanical garden, the park later evolved into a zoo.

The zoo is divided into two main areas: a recreational section with a children's play area, a small lake with boat rides, a cable car, and an aquarium, and the animal section, which houses various species, including birds, reptiles, primates, and mammals.

While the zoo offers a fun experience for families, some enclosures are quite small and could benefit from modernization. Despite this, it remains an interesting place to visit, especially if you want to learn more about local wildlife.

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