La Salle Paterna School Natural Science Museum

The Natural Science Museum of Paterna was set up to facilitate the study of natural sciences, for the benefit of the pupils of La Salle School.
It began in the 1953-1954 school year, when pupils and their parents brought in specimens and they were classified for later collection. It was really in the 1960-1961 school year when it was decided to dedicate the current space, the former chapel, to the museum and shelves and dispaly cases were ordered to the school’s carpenters.
The person in charge from the beginning was Brother León, who spent many hours labelling and classifying the nearly 14,600 specimens.
From the profits obtained from the sale of school material, which was sold by Brother León himself, it was authorised to dedicate a part to the purchase of specimens, to prepare pieces by the taxidermist Mr. Martí, de Valencia. Later, the centre itself dedicated a budget to maintain and expand the museum.
At that time it was not frowned upon to kill specimens for its collection, as there were no endangered species, nor was there the awareness that exists today. The specimens were donated by families linked to the school or commissioned by individuals or La salle Brothers who were missionaries in other parts of the world.
Brother León himself made many trips to the mountains, together with his brothers of the congregation, to search for pieces and more specifically for minerals and fossils in the mountains of Teruel and Castellón.
The museum has a herbarium of Mediterranean species, especially from the Balearic islands. This collection has species in perfect condition since 1910. Many of these species come from a herbarium that was made at the beginning of the 20th century for the La Salle School in Bonanova (Barcelona). The herbarium of our museum was created from the species repetaed or left over from that herbarium. It consists of 10 urns or boxes numbered froml 1to 10. Botanistos from the University use this herbarium for their studies.
Brother León dedicated the last years of his life, when he was retired, to classifying the specimens that came to him. He devoted up to 14 hours a day to this task.
In his honour the Museum of Natural Science of the College is called the MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCEINCE BROTHER LEÓN. At the entrance to the museum there is a bust and a painting in his honour.
Brother León was succeeded by Brother Emilio Castro, a great lover of nature and a dowser, who introduced him to many places and, therefore, increased the nuseum’s collection. In particular, specimens fro Palaeontology and Mineralogy.
Brother Emilio Castro was succeeded by Carmina Motoliu, a biologist, who dedicated herself to revising the classification according to the new classification patterns, to its maintenance, to its compterisation and to its dissemination to schools in the Valencian Community.
At present, 9,965 species are computerised.
The museum has more than 500 entries in an internet search engine that allow the museum to be known among schoolchildren and scientists.
It is currently listed in the”Register of Collections, Projects and Databases of Biodiversity in Spain” with the code CLS-MHLP of gbif.es