Museums

You’d never get a sense of the rich history of Panama [1] if all you had to go on were the museums of its capital city. They are all neglected and underfunded, and what few exhibits they contain are generally poorly presented and contain almost no explanation of their significance.

That said, Panama has paid more attention to its cultural treasures in recent years. The city’s anthropology museum, Museo Antropológico Reina Torres de Araúz [2], has a new home. The modern art museum, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo [3], once an art gallery more than anything else, has emerged as a respectable repository of Panama’s better-known and emerging contemporary artists. And one day the ambitious new Museum of Biodiversity, designed by Frank O. Gehry, may actually be completed. The latest estimate is that it will finally open at the end of 2011.

Most of the museums are in Casco Viejo [4]. This section covers notable museums outside of Casco Viejo.