The new Museo de Navarra in Pamplona, one of the latest of the museums of Spain to be reorganized, was opened officially in June 1956. The importance of the great artistic and archaeological heritage of Navarra, due in part to its geographic location, was recognized a century ago. When a Provincial Commission of Monuments of Navarra was formed in 1860, the work of collecting from churches, monasteries and historic houses was intensified with the aim of establishing a museum. With a true sense of the fitting, to house their treasures they selected a building dating back to the Middle Ages, solidly constructed and in the old part of the town, the Camara de Comptos Reales de Navarra, or Royal Exchequer and Mint itself an historic exhibit. Finally with many new acquisitions, their collections outgrew these quarters.