Tomas Romay Museum: A Place for Natural Sciences

The Excelencias Group wants you to take a closer look at the Santiago-based Tomas Romay Museum of Natural History, following its reopening this week.  

Click on Santiago de Cuba: A City of 500 Years

Due to the impact of hurricane Sandy back in 2012, the museum’s roof was torn apart and the exhibited artifacts suffered some damage. The Tomas Romay Museum of Natural History, located on the corner of Enramadas and Barnada streets, has once again opened its doors to both national and international visitors.

The reopening ceremony was followed by the exhibition entitled “Legacy of Master Fernando Boytel Jambú in the Centenary of his Birth”, as well as different lectures at the planetarium – one of the museum’s greatest attractions.

This important facility treasures scientific heritage of great worth, which stands for the identity of the province, and valuable shows of Cuba’s biodiversity, specifically from the easternmost region.

Back in 1965, the president of Cuba’s Sciences Academy, Antonio Núñez Jiménez, decided to turn the property into a Museum of Sciences and a year, on October 10, the authorities inaugurated this "temple of science in Santiago de Cuba", just like Núñez Jiménez labeled it in 1972.

The property features twelve permanent exhibition halls that display over 1,600 samples, which represent different zoological and botanical groups of Cuba’s biodiversity, as well as endemic exponents and some species that are already extinct or are in danger of extinction.

The halls are named Origin of the Universe, Formation and Origin of Life on Earth, Invertebrates, Fish, Amphibious, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals, Archaeology, Botany, Osteology and Exotic Fauna. The list also includes the Planetarium and the Temporary Exhibition Hall.

Since the very beginning, the Museum had educational, recreational and cultural purpose, especially for children and the people in general. It was also aimed at increasing environmental awareness of the communities in the territory and giving them the tools they need to transform, preserve and improve the environment.