Cobán Museums: Museo Histórico de las Verapaces, Casa Ciencia and the Closed Príncipe Maya — Hours and Fees

Cobán has two museums with published hours: the free Museo Histórico de las Verapaces in the city centre (Monday to Saturday, 9:00 to 18:00) and the Museo Casa Ciencia, a science and fossil museum on the road to San Juan Chamelco whose fee and hours depend on which directory you read. The third name you will see, the Museo del Príncipe Maya, closed in 2016 according to Guatemala.com.

All hours and fees below come from directory entries with no date on them: they are undated in the Ministry of Culture directory (SIC), checked 10 November 2026, or in the museum association’s directory. Call ahead.

In short: History museum: 2da. calle 2-20 zona 2, inside the Palacio de Gobernación, free, Monday-Saturday 9:00-18:00 (SIC). Casa Ciencia: km 215½ on the Cobán-Chamelco road; SIC says Q.20.00 and Tuesday-Saturday 9:00-15:00, AMG-ICOM says voluntary donation and Tuesday-Sunday 13:00-20:00; phone 5995-5784 in both. Príncipe Maya: reported closed since 2016.

The museums at a glance

Museo Histórico de las Verapaces

The SIC entry describes a photographic exhibition of the city of Cobán and of people from the region, with crafts, textiles, a collection of the region’s traditional dress and the traditional dances of the Verapaces. Its listed themes are history, culture, archaeology, customs and traditions.

SEGEPLAN’s Alta Verapaz departmental development plan (2021-2032 plan, published 2023) says the museum is in the Palacio de Gobernación and shows photographs of Cobán and its people, crafts, textiles and the dress of the different municipalities. The same plan says the palace, also known as the Palacio de Corregimiento, was built between 1871 and 1879 and inaugurated on 19 July 1881, with a two-storey main front and arcades along the outer corridors.

SIC lists the museum as free, Monday to Saturday 9:00 to 18:00. Sunday is not in the schedule, and the entry gives no phone number or email.

Museo Casa Ciencia

Casa Ciencia’s website describes it as an area for the sciences shown through models, instruments and original specimens, and says more than 95% of what is on show are prototypes, from the states of matter to replicas of pieces from the ancient game of chess. The museum calls its paleontology sections its most outstanding part and claims they are the most varied in Mesoamerica. The SIC entry describes rooms on the origin of the Earth, natural laws and processes over time, astronomy, crystallography, paleontology and fossils; SIC gives its theme as the history of the earth sciences and paleontology, and names Haroldo López Perdomo as the representative or director.

How a visit works. The website estimates 1 to 2 hours, depending on your available time, interests and prior knowledge, and describes two routes: a general-science route that starts with astronomy and moves through the history of mathematics, physics, chemistry, crystallography and mineralogy with more than a hundred models, and a paleontology route. A section on Guatemalan scientists includes Oskar Majus, who the museum says brought tea and cardamom to Alta Verapaz.

Services. The museum association AMG-ICOM Guatemala lists QR-code labels, guided visits and educational activities outside the museum, and on site its own parking, wheelchair access, a cafeteria, a library and a multipurpose room.

Which fee and which hours?

The two directories disagree on both:

• SIC (Ministry of Culture): Tuesday to Saturday, 9:00 to 15:00; Tarifa: Q.20.00. Phones 5995-5784 and 5698-3344; email ingeoaroldo@hotmail.com.
• AMG-ICOM Guatemala: Tuesday to Sunday, 13:00 to 20:00; donación voluntaria. Phone 5995-5784.

The museum’s own website prints neither hours nor a fee and asks visitors to schedule a visit (Programar visita). Both directories share the 5995-5784 number, so that is the line to call. If you can only go on a Sunday or after 15:00, only the AMG-ICOM schedule allows it, so confirm before you travel.

Location. SIC places the museum at km 215½ on the road to Cobán, in the municipality of San Juan Chamelco; AMG-ICOM gives Km 215.5 on the Cobán-Chamelco road, Cobán. The kilometre figure is a highway marker, not the distance from the town centre.

Museo del Príncipe Maya: closed

Guatemala.com, a secondary source, says the Museo del Príncipe Maya opened in April 1999 and closed in 2016. It describes five exhibition rooms holding musical instruments and objects of Maya culture and pieces from other ancient cultures. It names a censer as the museum’s centrepiece and mentions a complete panel of hieroglyphs dated 656 AD.

The name still appears in official documents: the Ministry of Culture’s 2023 Holy Week guide for Alta Verapaz lists it at 6a. avenida 4-26 zona 3, Cobán, and SEGEPLAN’s plan includes Museo El Príncipe Maya in its table of Alta Verapaz tourist sites. Neither gives hours, a fee or a contact, and neither says the museum has reopened.

More in Cobán

• The wider list of Cobán trips, with prices: things to do in Cobán.
• The orchid garden on the edge of town: Orquigonia.
• The city’s national park: Las Victorias National Park.

Sources

• SIC, Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes: Museo Histórico de las Verapaces — undated, read 10 November 2026.
• SIC, Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes: Museo Casa Ciencia — undated, read 10 November 2026.
• Museo Casa Ciencia: website — read 10 November 2026.
• AMG-ICOM Guatemala: Museo Casa Ciencia — undated, read 10 November 2026.
• SEGEPLAN: Plan de Desarrollo Departamental de Alta Verapaz 2021-2032 (PDF) — read 10 November 2026.
• Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes: Guía de Semana Santa El Pregón, Alta Verapaz, 2023 (PDF) — read 10 November 2026.
• Guatemala.com: Museo del Príncipe Maya que existió en Cobán, Alta Verapaz — secondary source, read 10 November 2026.