Where Is the World’s Best Dinosaur Museum?
Travelling with children who dig dinosaurs? We're on a quest to find the best place to see them. Here are some notable suggestions. Suggest your favourite, too.
Make no bones about it: Dinosaurs are cool—at least as they exist for us today, as children’s toys, in books and motion pictures, on T-shirts and perhaps best of all, in museums.
As travel plans with the kids take shape this season, we thought it would be fun to explore a few destinations that keep even the youngest palaeontologists engaged, interested and entertained while their parents are equally fascinated, stimulated and intrigued. Here are some notable suggestions.
Chicago: The Field Museum
Maybe your toddler struggles to say Tyrannosaurus rex, but “T. rex” rolls off the tongue like applesauce. So visit Sue, the largest and most complete T. rex in the world on permanent exhibition at The Field Museum. Sue, named after the palaeontologist who discovered her, stands 13 feet high at the hips and is 40.5 feet long. You can also catch a showing of Waking the T. Rex 3D: The Story of Sue at the museum’s 3-D theatre. Before you go, follow Sue on Twitter @SUEtheTrex.
London: Natural History Museum
Dinosaurs come alive at London’s Natural History Museum with “Age of the Dinosaur,” which runs through September 2011 and features among its collection of animatronic dinosaurs a boisterous Camarasaurus, a toothy Tarbosaurus and a wide-eyed Gallimimus bullatus. The museum’s permanent dinosaur gallery will be closed in June and July for refurbishment.
New York: American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History’s exhibition, “The World’s Largest Dinosaurs” runs through January 2, 2012, and features a 60-foot-long, 11-foot-tall model of the Mamenchisaurus, perhaps best known for its extremely long neck (the model’s is 30 feet, although the life-size creature’s neck may have stretched as long as 150 feet). The museum also has a world-class collection of dinosaur fossils in its permanent collection, including the first Velociraptor skull ever discovered, a Stegosaurus (any relationship to the author remains unknown) and an Apatosaurus (although you may recognise it as the Brontosaurus it was once called).
Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Natural History
The world’s first permanent exhibit of dinosaur skeletons and recreations at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural History fully re-opened to the public in 2008 after being closed for refurbishment for a few years. Today, Dinosaurs in Their Time features 19 fully articulated skeletons in recreated environments and emphasises the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods from which each of the dinosaurs lived.
Zigong, China: Zigong Dinosaur Museum
Covering more than 66,000 square metres (or more than 710,000 square feet) it’s certainly one of world’s biggest dinosaur museums. But it also rests amid a key region for dinosaur fossils in China. There are more than 40 locations within the city itself where dinosaur fossils have been discovered. The museum features preserved, fossil-rich dig sites as well as dinosaur reconstructions from the authentic fossils found there.
You Tell Us
What about your experiences? With hundreds of museums around the world to see dinosaurs, where on Earth would you say is the world’s best? Share your thoughts in the comments that follow.
Though small as museums go the Black Hills Museum in Hill City, South Dakota gets a thumbs up from me! They’ve packed a lot in a relatively small space and their gift shop has quite a variety too, from dinosaur toys to high end fossil replicas, and even some real invertebrate fossils for sale as well. I highly recommend a visit!
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Moscow!!! Orlov museum of Paleontology!!! It is very big and impressive!!!
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You should check out the Dinsoaur Museum in Aathal, near Zurich, Switzerland.
http://www.sauriermuseum.ch/de/home/ I’ve not really been to too many other Dinosaur exhibits but I’m researching some for my nearly 4 year old who is obsessed. I haven’t found anything yet that comes close to this one. Thankfully it’s not too far from our house and we’re starting to spend more and more time there. It has an amazing collection of fossils, bones and full size dinos. Most are models, some originals. A 4 year old doesn’t really care whether it’s real or not… standing under a full size Brachiosaurus, coming face to face with an Elasmosaurus and holding T Rex Teeth are pretty cool to a small kid. There’s lots of information on digs and how they are run and there are dedicated sections on sea creatures, ammonites, dino birds, footprints, meateaters… the list goes on. And of course there is a great shop with all things dinosaur that kids love. Who couldn’t want their very own hook claw. What is really great is that even small kids can participate – some museums are too boring for young kids and the “dino digs” are for older kids and very intensive. The Aathal museum run parties and education sessions for kids – outside there is a full dinosaur “skeleton” buried under sand that the kids have to brush away.
I can’t recommend it enough. If our son stays on this path it looks like the Tyrell in Alberta will be one of our next stops but for now this museum seems perfect for a rainy Sunday in Switzerland (of which there are many).
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I would say overall, the Royal Tyrrell Drumheller Alberta is best for dinosaurs. Add the Humbold museum fur naturkunde in Berlin for the archeopteryx and other flying reptiles. London is best for marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs.
While the Field Museum, the Smithsonian and the American Museum of Natural History are great as natural history museums, there are better places to go if your focus is specifically paleobiology. The Museum of Ancient Life in Utah is great if you just want to see Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Also, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center and the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center are great if dinosaurs are the focus. These other museums are not as large, nor as ornate as some of the museums listed above but they actually have more dinosaur exhibits while some of the other museums also have geology, anthropology and other types of exhibits. So it depends on how much dinosaur focus you want (and how much you care about museum architecture.)
Having just come from the London museum, I have to boast about the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Drumheller, Alberta for sure, it beats London’s museum hands down (even with the very impressive dinasour in the entry hall!) Alberta’s musuem is incredible.Located in the Badlands themselves where you can continue the adventure outdoors along footpaths where they roamed and many of the bones have been found!!!!
Berlin, Germany has an excellent dinosaur museum, check it out -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_für_Naturkunde
Looks like a fun activity for the whole family—thank you for sharing.
The Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. So far this is my daughter’s favorite although the only other we have visited from this list is the Field Museum. If you visit Chicago to see Sue, make sure to also see the brachiosaurus at O’Hare airport.
Will do, thanks!
We love the Melbourne Museum (Australia). This is their weblink http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/discoverycentre/dinosaur-walk/ if you’re interested.
While not an actual museum, young dino fans love Dinosaur National Park in Vernal, Utah. Geologic forces have pushed a former riverbed upward which created a wall packed with the remains of all kinds of prehistoric creatures. There are also lots of exhibits and psuedo digs to enjoy
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Drumheller, Alberta … how did you miss this??
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Drumheller, Alberta
Another vote for the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Drumheller, Alberta. very impressive place for both kids and adults.
I have to agree with Dennis Thomas. The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Drumheller, Alberta is undoubtedly one of the best in the world. It is right at the site of some of the greatest paleontology finds on earth.
Dennis, sounds fantastic! Another great suggestion.
Jay, thank you! Apologize for that. We’ve made the correction.
“Covering more than 66,000 square metres (or more than 21,600 square feet)”
66,000 square meters is 710,418 square feet, not 21,600 as stated in your article.
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Drumheller, Alberta. Over 40 mounted Dinos plus the world famous Burgess Shale exhibit, all in a very well planed and executed display setting. Got to be one of the world’s best.
Ooo. Thanks for the suggestion, Catherine!
London’s Natural History Museum. It’s a shrine to Darwin and therefore sensible thought, as well as the plethora of dead display. Don’t forget the Horniman Museum in Dulwich-even more stuffed specimens with an eccentric twist!