Granada is a historic city in Andalusia, Spain. Due to its interesting past the city has its fair share of Museums in Granada. One of the most modern and largest museums is the Parque de las Ciencias.
Parque de las Ciencias Granada
This Science Museums is vast, occupying a large plot on the edge of the city. Its display rooms are indoors and outdoors. The exhibits cover many different subjects within the broad topic of science. One of the main attractions of this Science Museum are the temporary exhibitions. The design and content of these exhibitions are always well executed and fascinating.
The most recent project to arrive in Granada is 'Momias. Testigos del pasado', meaning Mummies: Witnesses of the Past. This exhibition is on from 24th of October 2014 until September 2015.
International Exhbition in Granada
The Museum has curated pieces from 24 different organizations across the world. Collaborating institutions are the Library of Alexandria (Egypt) el Anthropological and Ethnography Museum of the University of Turin (Italia) the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology de Bolzano (Italy), The university of Oporto´s Natural History Museum (Portugal) the Museums Partner of Innsbruck (Austria) and the Suermondt-Ludwig- Museum in Aachen (Germany)
So it is truly an international collaboration. The are very few occasions where a collection such as this one have come together in one place.
This mummy exhibition spans across 1500 square metres of the museum floor. It features fifty mummies from different countries. Ötzi the oldest mummy in Europe and takes pride of place in this exhibition. (Otzi cannot be moved and a replica is shown)
Mummies: Witnesses of the Past includes details of the human body, archaeology, cultural anthropology, history, nutrition and art. Every hour there is also a Scientific Workshop which looks into what a Mummy is. They also look at the technology used to find out the information when a mummy is discovered. All the written explanations are in Spanish and English language.
Otzi Oldest Mummy in Europe
As you enter the area, visitors first come across a huge block of ice. This large cube recreates the place where Ötzi died. In the Alps he was found at an altitude of 3500 metres. This mummy is particularly important find for scientists. They managed to find 30 different species of pollen inside his digestive system. Giving great insight to the researchers. They knew which food he ate and information about weather conditions in that time. Otzi was killed 5300 years ago and only discovered in 1991.
An important Mummy from Galera, just north of Granada also features in the museum and showcases a more local archaeological find.
Mummies is displayed in seven different areas:
- Mummies across the world
- Mummies in the Andes
- Egyptian Mummies
- Guanches Mummies (Canary Islands)
- The Mummy of Galera
- Otzi – The Ice Man
- Behind the Scenes: Scientific Workshop.
The Parque de las Ciencias in Granada is a well organised museum and regularly receive large groups. They have a restaurant and a café at the entrance. There is also a gift shop with lots of books and great souvenirs.
It really makes a great day out for visitors of all ages..