National Museum of Science and Technology (Spain)
The National Museum of Science and Technology (Spanish: Museo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología - MUNCYT) is a Spanish technology museum dedicated to technology promotion and preservation. It owns a collection of more than 17,000 scientific instruments, technological devices, vehicles, machines and industrial tools from the 16th century until nowadays.[1]
Museo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología | |
![]() La Coruña MUNCYT façade | |
![]() | |
Established | 30 June 1980 |
---|---|
Location | La Coruña and Alcobendas, Spain |
Type | Technology museum |
Collection size | 17,000 |
Website | http://www.muncyt.es/ |
The museum was established on June 30, 1980[2] and its first location was opened on 1997 in the old Delicias railway station building in Madrid sharing premises with the Railway Museum.[3] The museum current main exhibition hall is in La Coruña, opened on May 4, 2012.[4], with a second exhibition hall in Alcobendas (Madrid), opened on December 12, 2014.[5]
Among the pieces in display at La Coruña are the prototype of the "Mechanical Encyclopedia", the 1949 mechanical precursor to the electronic book, by Spanish inventor Ángela Ruiz Robles,[6] the Fresnel lens used between 1857 and 1904 at the Tower of Hercules lighthouse,[7] the first computer arriving in Spain, an IBM 650 computer bought by RENFE in 1959[8] and the front section of the "Lope de Vega", an Iberia Boeing 747 in service between 1981 and 2003, airplane that brought the Guernica to Spain on September 1981.[9]
Gallery
- La Coruña hall main entrance
- Alcobendas hall main entrance
- Iberia Boeing 747 "Lope de Vega" front section
- Fresnel lens from the Tower of Hercules
- Train
- The first computer in Spain (1959), side view of the IBM 650 Console Unit
References
- National Museum of Science and Technology. "Collection". Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- Boletín Oficial del Estado (3 September 1980). "Royal Decree 1691/1980, of June 30, by which the National Museum of Science and Technology is created". Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- Joaquín Vila (14 September 1980). "Las Delicias station will be a Museum of Science and Technology". ABC. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- "Opened in A Coruña the first National Museum in Galicia". La Voz de Galicia. 4 May 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- "The National Museum of Science and Technology opens in Alcobendas with more than 500 treasures". RTVE. 12 December 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- National Museum of Science and Technology. "Mechanical Encyclopedia". Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- "The Lens of the Tower of Hercules is a museum piece already". El Mundo. 24 February 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- National Museum of Science and Technology. "IBM 650 computer". Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- "The National Museum of Science and Technology buys the cockpit of the Jumbo that brought the Guernica". El país. 27 March 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2020.