Museum Paleontologic and Archaeological Walter Ilha

The Museum Paleontologic and Archaeological Walter Ilha is located at street Rua Fernando Ferrari, 164, in the city São Pedro do Sul, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is a museum of Geopark of Paleorrota with information on the region. It was founded in 1987.

History
The museum has a considerable collection of fossil of plants and animals of about 230 million years ago. It also contains a collection of archeology and mineralogy, organized with the intent to show the evolutionary history of life.

The museum was created by the Municipal Law No 140-83/88 of 27/11/87. However, its history is much older. Walter Ilha, a printer by profession and scientist, started to look for the authorities, bibliographies, journals and other means, information on fossils. Walter has become a collection of samples of the fossils. Working together with the Executive and Legislative powers implemented the idea of creating a museum.

After some time, has a room next to the building of Radio City, being inaugurated on September 28, 1980 the Museum Paleontologic Municipal of São Pedro do Sul.

Even without being licensed, Walter Ilha was invited to converse on scientific events paleontology, to be accepted as a member of the Brazilian Society of Paleontology. The history of the museum confused with the life of this character. The fight for Walter Ilha was tireless, always in contact with people who could work with the preservation of the fossils, and searched for every way to preserve the public awareness of these fossils.

In September 1987 Walter Ilha died, but his dreams began to take shape. In November of that year, in honor of Walter Ilha, the museum began to take its name.

Collection
The collection of the museum started with the  Walter Ilha donation of the collection of mineralogy, paleontology and archeology. The collection has received contributions from UFRGS,  UFSM and UNISINOS.