The origins of this museum lie in the old Natural History Cabinet, created in 1840, with collections intended for university teaching. After 1906, the year in which it was given museum category, its assets began to increase continuously, both in the quantity and quality of the collections. Scientific research and dissemination endeavours were added to teaching activities.

The museum currently holds important botanical, zoological and geological collections, some of which have been created by professors at Santiago University and by Galician scientists and naturalists, and other are the result of donations, exchanges and acquisitions. Some collections are outstanding and unique in Spain, such as the collection of wooden crystal models under the guidance of R. Haüy, or Emilio Rolán’s malacology collection.

The museum also boasts a valuable collection of type specimens, with more than a thousand type specimens, especially molluscs (the majority belong to E. Rolán’s collection), but also type series of many other groups of invertebrates (sponges, insects…) which are at the disposal of the scientific community.

After 50 years in a confined space in the Chemistry faculty, its reopening in a new building in Vista Alegre park signalled the beginning of a new phase of profound changes, insofar as both the exhibitions as well as the activities that take place there are concerned.

The new exhibition rooms have been designed following the most recent trends to show the natural environment in realistic scenarios that reproduce different types of ecosystems.