Museum of Human Evolution

Since its inauguration on July 13, 2010, and until July 8, 2011, the museum received a total of 279,000 visitors, thus becoming the most visited museum in Castile and León, and approaching the 10th most visited museum in Spain.

In 2022, the museum managed to recover the pre-pandemic figures, obtaining 142,766 visitors (only the permanent exhibition of the MEH, without counting the visits to the temporary exhibitions, nor to the Archaeological Site of Atapuerca), approaching the 151,877 visits it had in 2019, once again placing itself among the most visited museums in Spain.

It forms the centerpiece of the so-called "Complejo de la Evolución Humana" (Human Evolution Compound), comprising a convention center, the CENIEH research institution, and the museum itself.

Architecture

The building was designed by award-winning Spanish architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg. The land on which it was built was the "solar de Caballería," a large plot of land in central Burgos where once had stood the convent of San Pablo, one of the foremost houses in Castile of the Dominican Order (also known as the Order of Preachers). After its demise in the mid-19th century, military barracks were built in its place.

The demolition of the barracks in the 20th century left a significant, purposeless void used as a car park; not until 2000 was the decision made to build a museum on human evolution in its place. Navarro was chosen as the architect after an international competition where his design won over others made by Cruz y Ortiz, Steven Holl, Arata Isozaki and Jean Nouvel.

The museum includes more than 25 large format projections, 360º circular projection and more than 50 video sources.