Geology Museum of the Universitat of Valencia (MGUV) reaches today 20 years. Actually its origins go back to the own creation of the Universitat de València, more than five centuries ago, but today 26 February turns 20 years since it was legally recognised by the Valencian Government.
This museum is in charge of the conservation and management of scientific, paleontological and geological, through the management of scientific collections, the taxonomy identification of paleontological and geological specimens and the development of corresponding database. Moreover, the museum is the guardian of several collections of geological and palaeontological materials (ornamental stones, deposited structures, meteorites, fossils) and other objects with a historical scientific character related directly or indirectly with Geology.
Among emblematic pieces stands out a meteorite of almost 35 kilos with a formation age close to 4,6000 thousand years. It is unknown where fell and how arrived to the Universitat de València the one which is considerated the “best loved of the museum”, but, without any doubt, it fixes the eyes of visitants of this museum which takes up around 140 m² in the Faculty of Biology in the Universitat, in Burjassot Campus, as the scientific curator of the museum Anna García Forner explains in this video: http://links.uv.es/cs2iexO
Inside can be contemplated specimens of stones and mineral, some of them representatives of the mineral richness of Valencian Community, deposit structures, collections of scientific instruments and paleontological collections, which conform the most numerous backdrops of the museum.
Are part of the paleontological collections: insects fossils coming from uncommon deposits; the one of vertebrate “Miocene” coming from excavations in Crevillent and Venta del Moro; the one of micromammal fossils, obtained from excavations done in tertiary basis of the Valencian Community; the collection “Triassic” with a high scientific relevance, due the shortage of fossils form this period, and the one of dinosaurs, because some of them are unique species in the world and have been found in Valencian geography settlements.
The most of the backdrops of this museum come from donations after de catastrophe of 1932 which put out the Natural History Museum which was located in the historical building of La Nau, that then was the headquarter of the Universitat de València, where the lessons were given. From that devastating fire were only rescued some zoological and botanic specimens, but geological and paleontological backdrops were lost.
The peculiarity of this museum is that paleontological collections have a great scientist value which is revalued continually by the current researches of teaching and researcher staff of the Universitat. The material comes from the excavation, is legally deposited in the installations of this museum of the Universitat, that guarantees its conservation, facilitates and favours the access to these backdrops to the scientific community. This way, the researchers of the Universitat benefit because the study of this is not slow down by red tapes that could suppose that these collections were held in other institution unconnected with the academic institution.
Last update: 26 de february de 2016 11:04.
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