Description of the attraction
Archaeological Museum La Serena, located in the city center. It was opened on April 3, 1943. In 1948, the museum was transferred under the leadership of the Office of Libraries, Archives and Museums. The building that currently houses the Archaeological Museum in La Serena was built during the "Plan Serena" urban redevelopment project in Coquimbo from 1948 to 1952, during the reign of President Gabriel Gonzalez Videl. This project gave impetus to the development of economy, culture and tourism in the provincial Coquimbo region.
Currently, the Archaeological Museum of La Serena has valuable collections of the Atacama and Coquimbo cultures. In addition, it houses a monumental exhibit of Moai culture in a room dedicated to Easter Island, as well as rock art specimens from Los Pelambres (Salamanca) from the Choapa Valley.
Also in the Archaeological Museum there is an anthropological and historical library, which has in its archives ancient colonial manuscripts, as well as a documentary archive - newspapers and magazines published in this region from the 17th to the 20th century. The museum has a photo archive with a large series of black-and-white and color images of archaeological and ethnographic research, etc.
The stone portal of the Baroque museum building dates back to 1820, it was part of the facade of an old colonial mansion that belonged to Count José Pardo de Figueroa Recabarren, mayor of La Serena in 1791. In 2012, the museum was expanded with the construction of another building designed to increase the area of exhibition halls. In 2014, the reconstruction of the exhibition halls of the old museum building began.
