This research aims to analyze the approximations or distancings to the category City Museum seeking to problematize its use in the context of the Historical Museum of the City of Rio de Janeiro - MHCRJ. The intention was to verify if the relationship with the surrounding community contributes to the musealization process, in order to broaden the debate about city museums, their interface with the educational dimension and cultural heritage. Based on the literature review, it was possible to verify an incipient production on the theme of city museums and education, which demonstrates the need for research in this field in order to enable a fruitful approximation between these areas. There are some guiding questions that guide the research, such as: the museum is in the city, but is the city in the museum? Does carrying the category of City Museum enable an effective and affective dialogue with this territory of which it is a part? Is Parque da Cidade also a museum? The reflection upon the city museum, musealization and cultural heritage, based on the relationship with the surroundings, was based on the theoretical perspectives of Meneses, Varine, Brulon, Desvallés and Mairesse, Gonçalves and Poulot. The debate on the educational dimension of the museum was guided by the studies of Carvalho, Chagas, Cristina Bruno and Valente. It is assumed that, more than exposing its objects, the museum needs to create communication channels with its audiences and with the surrounding community, thus becoming a privileged space for discussion about the development of the city. Therefore, a qualitative investigation was prioritized using the following methodological resources: semi-structured interviews with nine residents of the Vila Parque da Cidade and Parque da Cidade community, a Park worker and five Museum professionals, observation of the surroundings (Park and community), of an educational activity carried out by the Museum, the opening of its technical reserve and analysis of documents available on the web about the Museum. The results show how much the surrounding community, especially the older ones, know the history of that Museum, the community and the Park and highlight aspects that can contribute to bringing them closer. Parque da Cidade presents itself as a space of belonging to most of the interviewed residents. It can be said that in addition to being the place of residence and extension of the Museum, the Park is also a Museum. Although the Historical Museum of the City of Rio de Janeiro is classified by its professionals as a historical museum and has a specific function, it is concluded that it still seems to be in a process of building its identity and that the integration with the extramural surroundings is in development. The experiences of the people who were interviewed, that were related to so many stories about the Museum, also point to the need of a process of musealization that incorporates the public, taking into account the living, cultural and natural heritage of that location.