Museums of Tenerife
Even before the Canary Islands were part of history as such, they were legendary as the mythical lands beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the Gibraltar Straits, toward the Dark Sea.
The island cuisine is one of the aspects of our culture that visitors generally know least about. It is however, highly interesting and can provide some very pleasant surprises for anyone who fancies a change from their usual diet or the dishes on offer at many international restaurants, whilst they are on holiday.
A network of National Parks in the Canary Islands attempts to conserve the most typical ecosystems. The Teide National Park, in the centre of the island of Tenerife, shelters the best example of Canary Island vegetation.
Tenerife is the ideal place for all kinds of water sports, from spear fishing, fishing with a rod or deep-sea fishing to windsurfing – major international competitions are held in the area of El Medano – and the full range of water sports, al of which can be enjoyed all year round: sailing, diving, surfing, water skiing, canoeing, jet skis, etc.
We suggest different routes to discover the most interesting places in Tenerife,setting out with your own means of transport. We recommend you set out early in the morning with a road map of the island.
The island of Tenerife, has surprising beaches, throughout its extension, white sand beaches, of volcanic sand, natural swimming pools next to the sea, nudist beaches, moved away, immersed creeks in the nature. Everything a paradise to enjoy the sea and the sun, all time.
The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2005 will be hold under the motto: The Great Comedy, inspired in the great musical comedies of Broadway offering an important variety of costume elements and atrezzo and, therefore, a wide range of possibilities when making the disguises and carnival fantasies.
The traditional architecture of the Canary Islands, the architecture of stately homes and more humble houses for the people, takes its inspiration mainly from the traditional architecture of Andalucia and Portugal, although it also has a strong personality of its own.
The Sculpture, the Painting, the Music, the Literature of Tenerife, constitutes an appraised treasure, because that represents the culture and the own identity of the island.
In the different towns and municipalities from the island, celebrations throughout the year are made, that count on the participation, as much of local people, like of visitors, since several of them, are declared of cultural interest.
Listado de direcciones y telefonos de los centros de información turistica en distintos puntos de tenerife...
Biodiversity in the Canary Islands, and the abundance of remains from an extinct culture meant that the islands were considered outstanding laboratories for investigating man and nature by the many scientists (including Darwin, Humboldt, Verneau, Lyell, Webb and Berthelot) who visited the islands in the 18th and 19th centuries. This interest generated an increasing stock of archaeological, bio-anthropologic and naturalist assets in a range of both public and private collections, which created the foundations on which the Tenerife Cabildo, or island government, created the Tenerife Museum of Natural Sciences and the Tenerife Archaeology Museum in the 1950s.
In the end, these two museums have been merged together with the Canary Island Institute of Bio-anthropology, to create the modern Museum of Man and Nature, providing visitors with all the potential of the contents, collections and knowledge accumulated over decades of research and scientific work, offering a stringently scientific and user-friendly view of the natural wealth of the Canary Islands and their pre-Hispanic populations. The Museum of Man and Nature is located in the former Civil Hospital, a leading example of the neo-classical architecture of the islands, and probably the masterpiece of architect Oráa. A visit to the permanent exhibition starts on the Ground Floor, with the "Origins and Nature of the Canary Island Archipelago".
Modern audio-visual techniques are used to display different aspects of the natural environment of the islands: their geological origin and evolution, volcanic and meteorological phenomena that have forged the landscape and an interesting insight into Canary Island ecosystems and their rich biodiversity.<
The route starts with an Introduction room (Floor 1), which deals with the islands as ideal laboratories for studying culture and the natural environment. One can then choose to visit the Natural Sciences ring or the Archaeology ring.
The former includes rooms devoted to "Botany", "Terrestrial invertebrates" and "Terrestrial vertebrates", while the symmetric Archaeology ring includes the following rooms: "Collections" and "Archaeology of Tenerife".One then goes up to Floor 2 of the museum, where a more traditional form of museum exhibition is used, although it is still surprising.
The route starts in an introduction room entitled "The Canary Islands down the Ages", with contents that range from the first reports of the islands in ancient times, to the present day. In the Archaeology ring, one finds the thematic units "Collections",with pre-Columbine art and African ethnography, reflecting the cultural diversity of Africa and the pre-Hispanic cultures of Central and South America, "The Pre-History of the Canary Islands", where the life style of the ancient settlers of the Canary Islands is explained, and "Human Bio-Anthropology", the contents of which includes impressive Guanche mommies. If you choose the Natural Sciences circuit, you will find rooms devoted to "Fossils, Minerals and Rocks", with whimsical examples of the Mineral Kingdom, and "Marine Biology", where visitors are submerged in the beauty and natural wealth of the marine environment of the islands, with spectacular specimens and life-size replicas of whales, turtles, etc. made in the museums own taxidermy workshops.
Horarios:De martes a domingo de 9:00 a 19:00 h. (sujeto a modificaciones).Lunes cerrado. Dirección:Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre (Antiguo Hospital Civil) Calle Fuente Morales s/n. 38003 Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Teléfonos de Información General: 922 535 816 ; Fax: 922 294 345
This museum consists of fourteen rooms and the collection is made up mainly of paintings, although there are also exhibits of sculptures and of the lesser arts. It has both its own pieces and a deposit of the works of the Prado Museum in Madrid from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
The best works include: "San Jose", by Ribera "Portrait of Isabel II", by Federico de Madrazo "Portrait of Fernando Viscaí", by Joaquin Sorolla the "Triptico de Nava", of the 16th century Flemish school, the central part of which is by Peter Coeck, recently restored by the Spanish Institute of Historic Heritage.
The museum also has a wide sample of the best Canary Island painters as part of its permanent collection, with works by Gaspar de Quevedo, Cristobal Hernandez de Quintana, Juan de Miranda, Gonzalez Mendez, Valentin Sanz, Bonnin, Sureda, Alfaro, Guezala, Pedro Gonzalez and Oscar Dominguez, among others.
C/ Jose Murphy, 12 (Plaza del Principe)
C/ José Murphy, 12 (Plaza del Príncipe) Santa Cruz de Tenerife Telf: 922 24 43 58 Fax: 922 27 44 17 Horario: De martes a viernes de 10:00 a 20:00 horas Sábados y domingos de 10:00 a 14:00 hrs (Lunes cerrado).
This museum was founded in 1988, in the Almeida Castle and it has become one of the best research centres for historic cartography of the Canary Islands.
The ample collection of weapons and other military objects, includes a large area devoted to Nelson, failed invasion of Santa Cruz on the 25th of July 1797. In the exhibition that explains the events of this attack, one can see the famous Tiger cannon that, according to tradition, injured Nelson, causing the amputation of his right arm, along with uniforms and personal belongings of leading military figures and models of old military constructions.
The main hall contains a display of flags left behind by the troops of Horatio Nelson and the Canary Island militia flags.
The museum also exhibits collections of the old weapons used by Guanches and Spaniards in the battles of the Conquest of Tenerife that were fought in the late 15th century, and oil paintings and water colours by famous Canary Island painters.
C/ San Isidro,1 (Castillo de Almeida)
C/ San Isidro,1 (Castillo de Almeida) Santa Cruz de Tenerife Telf.: 922 843 500 Fax: 922 24 95 04 Horario: Martes a domingo de 10:00 a 14:00 horas (Entrada gratuita).
The History Museum and Island Archives are located in an old mansion, the magnificent Casa Lercaro, which dates from 1593 and belonged to the Lercaro family.
The History Museum offers detailed information about the civil, military and religious history of the island. Its teaching task is accompanied by many significant objects from the different periods in history covered by the museum. You can also see the largest collection of maps, navigational charts and geographic illustrations in the Canary Islands.
The eleven rooms are equipped with explanatory panels that give you an overview of how Tenerife has developed institutionally, socially, economically and culturally since the 15th century.
There is an extensive collection of maps of the Canary Islands, some dating from the 16th century.
C/ San Agustín, 22 (Casa Lercaro)
C/ San Agustín, 22 (Casa Lercaro) Telf.: 922 825 949 / 922 825 947 Fax: 922 630 013 38201 San Cristóbal de La Laguna Horario: Martes a Domingo de 09:00 a 19:00 horas Lunes cerrado Domingo: entrada gratuita.
The Tenerife Anthropology Museum is devoted to investigating, conserving and disseminating the popular culture of the Canary Islands.
Located in the splendid Carta Mansion, a Canary Island country house of the 18th century, it currently offers a grand exhibition "Food and Culture", showing different aspects of the social and cultural dimensions of food.
The museum places special emphasis on teaching activities, organising workshops throughout the year.
Carretera Tacoronte - Valle de Guerra (Casa de Carta)
Carretera Tacoronte-Valle de Guerra (Casa de Carta) Telf: 922 546 300 Fax: 922 544 498 38270 Valle de Guerra (La Laguna) Horario:Martes a domingo de 09:00 a 19:00 horas Lunes cerrado Domingo, entrada gratuita.
The Museum of Science and the Cosmos celebrated its fifth anniversary in May 1998, proving to be a great success with the public right from the beginning.
The museum offers many interactive displays. It is organised into a series of independent modules that provide information on many different scientific aspects. Visitors can take an active part in the process.
Apart from more than one hundred in-house produced scientific modules, the museum also has a planetarium.
The three-story building, designed by Jordi Garcés and Enric Soria has a sober exterior and ample lines.
Exhibitions are organised in five areas: the Sun, the Earth, the Universe, the Human Body and How Does it Work?, with a total of some 70 modules laid out in an elliptic hall like a market square, where a curious visitor can wander around and trip over adventures.
C/ Via Lactea, s/n (near the Canary Island Astrophysics Institute)
C/ Vía Láctea, s/n (Próximo al Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias) Telf: 922 315 265 / 922 315 080 Fax: 922 263 295 38200 San Cristóbal de La Laguna Horario: Martes a domingo de 09:00 a 19:00 horas . Lunes cerrado Los grupos numerosos deben concertar visita. Domingo: entrada gratuita.
The restored former Dominican convent now houses the museum of Latin American Handicraft.
There are five rooms laid out on two floors, where only part of their extensive stock is on exhibition: musical instruments,textile crafts, ceramics, fibres and popular art.
The museum holds part of the García Cabrejo textile collection, with objects from the 15th century and more than seven thousand pieces of pottery from the Latin American Co-operation Institute.A visit to the museum also enables you to appreciate the beauty of the convent.
C/ Tomás Zerolo, 34, next to the church of Santo Domingo
C/ Tomás Zerolo, 34 , Junto a la Iglesia de Santo Domingo Telf.: 922 32 17 46 Fax: 922 33 58 11 Horario: Lunes a viernes: de 9:30 a 18:00 horas. Sábados: 9:30 a 14:00 horas.
