Natural Science Museum of Valencia

The present Natural Science Museum of Valencia has its origin in the Palaeontological Municipal Museum, established in 1889 in the demolished San Gregorio's Convent located in San Vicente Street in the current Olympia Theatre.
This museum was created thanks to the engineer José Rodrigo Bolet, who generously donated his private collection. He was born in Manises in 1842, but emigrated to Argentina in 1875, where he led civil engineering projects and took part in hydraulic works in Brazil, the Andes and Patagonia. Besides that, he was involved in the design and planning of La Plata city and the port of La Campana, which he also built. On July 14th, 1889, he left Argentina with his enormous paleontological collection aboard the ship Mateo Bruzzo, arriving at the port of Barcelona in the midst of great expectation. A special train was chartered to transport the valuable collection to Valencia, arriving the evening of August 9th.
The collection is made up of a large number of mammal fossils belonging to the South American Quaternary, including a human skeleton called Samborombón considered to be the star of the collection. It was the focus of a great amount of scientific discussions in the early 20th century due to the postulate of the tertiary antiquity of the origin of mankind.
He was accompanied by Enrique De Carles, the main fossil collector and naturalist technician of the Museum of Buenos Aires. He was the main person in charge of the mounting of the skeletons until his early departure in June 1890, when the city of Valencia suffered the last cholera outbreak.
It was this year when the collection was moved from the San Gregorio's Convent to a municipal property located at number 62 of Ruzafa Street, where it remained temporarily until 1896. The collection was placed in an old Jesuit building, the San Pablo's Hospital, next to the Alquería de Julià, far from the historical center.

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