Panama’s
Reina Torres de Araúz Anthropology Museum will move from the
early 20th-century Neo-Classical building on Plaza Cinco de Mayo,
to the building that was planned to be the "Tucán Childrens’
Museum”, on Llanos de Curundu.
Built with
an investment of US$ 5.4 million, the new building is equipped with
large conference rooms and exhibit halls. The Tucan Children's Museum,
a project of former president Mireya Moscoso, was donated by the government
of Taiwan, but was mired in scandals and accusations of corruption
and the museum never became a reality. The present facilities of the
Anthropology Museum will be refurbished and transformed into an arts
center for the study of painting, theater and dance.
Panama’s
Anthropology Museum was founded in 1976 and bears the name of the
country’s most outstanding expert on pre-historic cultures.
It presently harbors over 14,000 items. The building where it presently
stands was originally Panama City’s railroad station, built
in 1913.
