Museu De História Natural de Maputo was founded in 1911 and installed since 1933 in a beautiful building inspired by the Manueline style, built by the City Council. It is without doubt one of the most visited places of the city by nationals and foreigners. It began as a Provincial Museum, then Dr. Álvaro de Castro Museum, after being renamed the Natural History Museum.

Officially, the African Art Museum has been in existence since 1913, under the name of Museum of the Province of Mozambique and in 1933 it was finally installed in the building  where it can be seen today, an interesting Manueline (Gothic Portuguese) building in the Ponta Vermelha neighborhood. Initially known   as the Dr. Álvaro de Castro Museum, later in 1975, it changed its name to the Natural History Museum. Collections include fauna, flora,   minerals and native handicrafts and objects of historical value in Mozambique.

Undoubtedly, the Museu De História Natural de Maputo is one of the most charismatic places in Maputo and its visitors are mostly domestic and foreign tourists. 

The African Art museum is under the tutelage of Eduardo Mondlane University and its main objective is to provide naturalistic and ethnographic information for  visitors and to promote research in the field of biodiversity. The main collection is the zoo, which includes birds,   mammals, reptiles, insects , invertebrates and fish.

The African Art collections on display are among the most exclusive in the world, including an exhibition of fetuses representing the development of an   elephant from 1 to 22 months, and  a fish that is considered a living fossil or coelacanth. The ethnographic collection contains about 500 objects related to various human activities, such as dance, sculpture, music, silver work,  ceramics, basketry and war. The collection also includes photographs of faces representing different ethnic groups in Mozambique.

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