Museo Paleontológico de Castilla-La Mancha

The fundamental mission of MUPA is the conservation, protection, documentation and orderly exhibition of the paleontological collections that make up its stable collection.

The founding nucleus of this collection is made up of funds from paleontological interventions in the Cuenca de las Hoyas (Lower Cretaceous of La Cierva) and Lo Hueco (Upper Cretaceous of Fuentes) sites, although the rest of the collection also forms part of this collection. paleontological deposits owned by the Castilla-la Mancha Community Board.

At this time, the collection is made up of remains from deposits that span the last 550 million years of the earth's history, but with a special representation of the Paleozoic records of Toledo and Ciudad Real, Mesozoic records of Guadalajara and Cuenca, and Cenozoic records of the whole region.

The Las Hoyas collection is made up of more than 20,000 specimens that represent about 130 genera of organisms from 125 million years ago, while that of Lo Hueco is made up of more than 12,000 specimens of organisms from about 75 million years ago, among which partial skeletons of some large dinosaurs are found. On the other hand, the museum houses an important set of fossils of plants and animals that constitute the reference of their species (holotypes) from the Triassic, the Lower Cretaceous and the Upper Cretaceous. The collection also preserves the holotypes of activity marks (ichnofossils) of different Cretaceous organisms.

In recent years, the collection has continuously increased its diversity due to the deposit of remains from the activities carried out in the Community in recent years at the El Atance, Algora and Poyos sites (Triassic and Upper Cretaceous of Guadalajara) and Buenache, Uña, Vadillos or Beteta (Lower Cretaceous of Cuenca) and will increase due to the incorporation of those that are developed in the future in accordance with the modalities contemplated by the legislation in force for that purpose.