Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência

The science museum of the University of Lisbon, at the Príncipe Real.

The National Museum of Natural History and Science in Lisbon

The Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, in Lisbon, is one of the great science museums of Portugal: natural history collections, laboratories of the old polytechnic and a historic building in the Príncipe Real that gathers zoology, botany, mineralogy and the memory of Portuguese science. Its Galeria da Biodiversidade and the old chemistry laboratory are among the treasures of the museum.

The museum

The museum belongs to the University of Lisbon and occupies the old buildings of the Escola Politécnica, where generations of scientists taught and studied. Its collections — from mammals and birds to herbaria and minerals — grew with the university and with the great scientific voyages of the nineteenth century; today the museum brings them to the public in exhibitions that speak of the diversity of life and of the history of science in Portugal.

What to see

The Galeria da Biodiversidade and its living exhibits.
The Laboratorio Chimico and the old teaching rooms of the polytechnic.
The zoological and mineral collections of the museum.
The gardens and courtyards of the Príncipe Real quarter around it.

Visiting

The museum is in the Príncipe Real, in the centre of Lisbon, reached on foot from the metro and among the streets of the old quarters. The exhibitions and their programmes follow the official information of the museum, and the visit combines well with the gardens and museums of the surrounding quarter.