If you come to Tenerife with the idea of knowing its most cultural side, there are a few museums that you can add to your list, and the Archaeological Museum of Puerto de la Cruz is certainly a very interesting option.
Located in La Ranilla, one of the most traditional neighborhoods of the town, it approaches the population whenever it has the opportunity through numerous educational and leisure programmes.
In addition, its collection of aboriginal pottery is remarkable, with unique pieces on the island of Tenerife, and one of the most important of the entire archipelago.
A little history
The Archaeological Museum of Puerto de la Cruz was first the Canary Archaeology Hall «Luis Diego Cuscoy», which was created in 1953. In its beginnings, it was promoted by the Institute of Hispanic Studies of the Canary Islands, making available to citizens the knowledge about the archaeological heritage of the islands.
It was not until 1991 when the old hall became the Archaeological Museum today, thanks to the concern of the locals for its stay and conservation in the town.
Collection
Within the walls of the building that houses the museum, there is a collection of some 2600 pieces, among which are, in order of quantity:
• Ceramic vases (many, very varied and very well preserved).
• Stone objects (especially obsidian flakes and tools for grinding).
• Necklace beads (made of mollusk shells and baked clay).
• Anthropomorphic remains (funerary wrappings and signs of mummification).
• Punches and bone hooks (very few samples).
Permanent exhibition
The permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum of Puerto de la Cruz is called La Cerámica Guanche (The Guanche Pottery), which shows to the public one of the most relevant manifestations of prehistory on the island of Tenerife.
The exhibition is a walk through six rooms: the room cave, mud and fire, gánigos (small clay containers), amphoras, mud and magic. They reveal how aboriginal pottery was made, how pottery used at home was made, and the ornaments of mystical symbolism that they used to decorate, and finally, a replica of a burial cave.
Guided tours and other activities
If you go alone you can walk around the museum and go to the staff to solve all your queries, but if you go as a group, you should know that you can go on a guided tour.
In addition, the centre has an interesting policy of social proximity, as they call it, for which they continuously organize and participate in cultural and leisure programmes aimed at different sectors of the population.
For this reason, if your trip coincides with an activity to boost social, cultural or commercial life of Puerto de la Cruz, you will probably find the Archaeological Museum involved, and you will be able to enjoy its value from another point of view.
You can visit other areas of the city, with all the information we provide about the most emblematic places of Puerto de la Cruz.
