The museum also houses significant paleontological, botanical, entomological, and marine and terrestrial vertebrate collections, and is considered the best Natural Library of the Canary Islands.

The museum is located in the downtown area of Santa Cruz, in the former Civil Hospital, a building that constitutes an example of the neoclassical architecture of Canary Islands.

The museum holds the largest collection on the culture of the Guanche[1] and also has one of the most modern methods of presentation of mummies, (announced in 2006 by the Cabildo de Tenerife through a communique).

During the sixties, funds were raised to add to the collections, including ethnographic and archeological materials from Africa and Pre-Columbian America.

At present the museum exhibits prehistoric archaeological remains both from Tenerife and the rest of the Canary Islands as well as other cultures.

Displayed are the museums collection of skeletal and mummified remains of the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands, the Guanches, along with objects buried in the royal tombs of their kings, the Menceyes.

Foreign television companies such as the American JWM Productions (Discovery Channel) and NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) have filmed in 2009 documentaries on mummies in the museum.

[15] Among the most important personalities who have visited the museum, stands out in October 2014, Stephen Hawking, who is considered the most famous scientist in the world.