region, in matters of development, investment, trade and tourism. University museums In addition to the two centers for higher studies and research that also function as house museums, the University of San Marcos currently has five institutions that function exclusively as museums, these are: Museum of Natural History of Lima: The Natural History Museum, founded on February 28, 1918, was located until 1934 in the Casona de San Marcos; It is currently located outside the university campus, in the Jesús María district. The museum is an important information center on Peruvian biodiversity, thus serving students and national scientists in a documented way. Studies carried out by museum researchers include ecological studies, inventories of the country's biodiversity, and monitoring of natural communities. The museum's collections include specimens of flora, fauna, and geology, many of which also have historical value, as they are specimens obtained by important naturalists such as Antonio Raimondi, Augusto Weberbauer, Ramón Ferreyra, Emma Cerrate, Wolfgang Karl Weyrauch, Hans Koepcke and María Koepcke, among others. Currently, the collections exceed a million and a half copies, many of which are exhibited to the public in an open and permanent manner or in temporary exhibitions. Sacaco Paleontological Museum: It is a paleontological museum located in the Bella Unión district, one of the thirteen districts of the Caravelí province, located in the department of Arequipa. It is part of the set of museums of the National University of San Marcos attached to the Faculty of Biological Sciences and a subsidiary of the Museum of Natural History of Lima. The museum protects the Sacaco Paleontological Zone, recognized by the Ministry of Culture of Peru as a Cultural Heritage of the Nation, this being one of the Paleontological Sites of the Pisco and Camaná Basins that together form part of the indicative list of possible nominees as Heritage of Humanity in Peru. Museum of Art: Founded in 1970 by the art historian Francisco Stastny, under the name of Museum of Art and History, it is located in the right-hand courtyard of the Casona de San Marcos. It is currently made up of four collections: the “Popular Art” collection, made up of ceramics and fabrics from towns in the mountains and jungle, which reflect ancient traditions in their elaboration; the collection of "Portraits" that represent teachers from San Marcos and authorities from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries; that of "Modern and Contemporary Art", made