History of the Collections

The oldest parts of our collection come from the Royal Cabinet of Natural History of Charles III (1771), whose nucleus was the cabinet purchased from the Ecuadorian Pedro Franco Dávila. It included pieces from the first archaeological excavations carried out in the Americas, as well as ethnographic objects collected during scientific expeditions.

In 1815 the Royal Cabinet of Charles III became the Royal Museum of Natural Sciences; in 1868, its collections were transferred to the newly founded National Archaeological Museum. From then on, purchases and donations helped build these American collections. In 1941, the Museum of the Americas was founded, and the collections of the former Section IV of the Archaeological Museum were transferred there. In the second half of the 20th century, its collections of viceregal art grew considerably, and new pre-Hispanic and ethnographic materials were also acquired. Its new and current building opened in 1965. The Museum houses and exhibits pre-Hispanic, ethnographic and viceregal pieces side by side, and its collections continue to grow.

The collections held in the Museum of the Americas are therefore made up of the former American Archaeology and Ethnography collection from the National Archaeological Museum - which had previously belonged to the Museum of Natural Sciences - supplemented by donations, loans and acquisitions of new works. Its subject matter covers a long period, namely American prehistory up to approximately the 1970s, with a special emphasis on pre-Hispanic archaeology, ethnography and viceregal art.