The Museo del Hombre Dominicano is the most important anthropological museum in the Dominican Republic, located on the Plaza de la Cultura alongside the National Theatre and two other major museums. It covers Dominican history from the pre-Columbian Taíno civilization through the colonial period, the African slave trade, Haitian occupation, and the modern republic.
The Taíno collection is particularly strong, with original artefacts including ceremonial objects, tools, and a large collection of zemís — the spiritual objects that served as centres of Taíno religious life. The colonial and African heritage sections explain the cultural mixing that produced Dominican identity, and the carnival section covering Dominican folk traditions and costumes is one of the more vivid in the Caribbean.