Canarian Museum and Casa de Colón

The Museo Canario and the Casa de Colón, in the historic district of Vegueta, invite us to take a journey into the past of the island of Gran Canaria and to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a caravel to the Americas.

At the Museo Canario, we can gain an insight into how the island’s first settlers lived before the conquest of the Canary Islands in the 15th century. Among its galleries, the best known is the René Verneau Gallery, which houses an extensive collection of skulls and several mummies.

The Casa de Colón, housed in a distinctive building situated behind the Cathedral, illustrates the relationship between the Canary Islands and the Americas. This relationship began five centuries ago with Columbus’s voyages to the New World, three of which included a stopover in Gran Canaria. The museum, comprising several dwellings from different periods, has four façades in different styles. The one facing the Plaza del Pilar Nuevo, known as the ‘green façade’, is an icon of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.