Gibraltar Museum

Gibraltar Museum

Ordnance House or "Bomb House", home to the Gibraltar Museum.
Location within Gibraltar
Established	24 July 1930 (1930-07-24)
Location	Ordnance House, 18–20 Bomb House Lane, Gibraltar
Coordinates	36°08′20″N 5°21′16″W / 36.1390°N 5.3544°W / 36.1390; -5.3544
Type	National museum
Director	Prof. Clive Finlayson
Website	gibmuseum.gi

The Gibraltar Museum is a national museum of history, culture and natural history located within the city centre of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Founded in 1930 by the then Governor of Gibraltar, General Sir Alexander Godley, the museum houses an array of displays portraying The Rock's millennia-old history and the unique culture of its people. The museum also incorporates the remains of a 14th-century Moorish bath house. Its director since 1991 is Prof. Clive Finlayson.

There were several unsuccessful attempts to establish a museum in Gibraltar during the 19th century. Important local finds could not be kept on The Rock because there was no museum. This meant that the first known adult Neanderthal skull (the so-called Gibraltar skull) went to the Natural History Museum in London. This was only the second Neanderthal fossil ever to be found, and it was excavated at Forbes' Quarry on the north face of the Rock of Gibraltar in 1848.

The first known collection established in Gibraltar was due to the Reverend John White, chaplain at Gibraltar from 1756 to 1774. Encouraged by his elder brother Gilbert White, he collected zoological specimens which he studied and sent to England. He took advice from Giovanni Antonio Scopoli and also later wrote in England, what is considered the first detailed zoological account of Gibraltar. However Fauna Calpensis was never published and it and his collections are now lost. The next known recording of something that could resemble a museum dates from 1830. St Bernard's Hospital is known to have had a room for specimens of natural history and morbid anatomy. Again, no remains of such collection are kept.