Living museums — spaces where biodiversity is cultivated, researched, and displayed — bring environmental knowledge into the public realm. They bridge science and daily experience, showing visitors that nature is not an abstract concept but a living, breathing collection we must protect. These spaces embody the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land, highlighting the urgency of preserving habitats and species in an age of ecological fragility.
Surrounding Frank Gehry’s colorful Biomuseo in Panama City, are the Biodiversity Park gardens, three hectares where more than 80% of plant species are native and endemic to the isthmus. Organized into thematic zones, the gardens are conceived as a living extension of the museum’s permanent exhibition, reinforcing its message that Panama is a biological bridge between continents. Here, biodiversity is not only interpreted — it is embodied, growing just steps away from the galleries.
At Brazil’s Instituto Inhotim, art and biodiversity share equal footing. Spread across thousands of hectares in Brumadinho, Mina Gerais, the institute combines cutting-edge contemporary art with one of the country’s most ambitious botanical collections. This protected reserve shelters native ecosystems and is considered the world’s largest open air museum, serving as a hub for conservation, research, and education. Visitors encounter sculptures and installations amid tropical gardens, making ecological awareness inseparable from aesthetic experience.
In the heart of Madrid, the Royal Botanical Garden offers a different kind of museum visit: a walk among 5,500 plant species from around the world. Founded in the 18th century and today a leading research center, the garden balances its role as a scientific institution with that of a living archive of biodiversity. It is both a quiet refuge for the city’s residents and a reminder that cultural capitals can also be custodians of ecological diversity.
Whether in tropical Panama, rural Brazil, or metropolitan Spain, living museums underscore a common truth: the preservation of culture and nature are inseparable. By turning gardens into classrooms, landscapes into laboratories, and biodiversity into a shared heritage, they expand the role of museums into one of stewardship — for the planet, for future generations, and for the interconnected web of life itself.
NEXT IN Summit is the event promoted by ACCIONA Cultura that brings together international leaders in the cultural field to share experiences, discuss ideas and analyze the challenges that will shape the future of the cultural industry.