Meet the butterflies—hundreds of them!Inspired by the Museum's beloved seasonal exhibit, this gallery offers a year-round experience featuring 80 species of butterflies among lush vegetation in tropical temperatures. A monarch butterfly in the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium.Alvaro Keding/© AMNH A small postman butterfly in the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium.Alvaro Keding/© AMNH Get Museum Tickets » Select the number of tickets and the date for Museum entry, and you will then be able to add Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium or other ticketed exhibitions during checkout. Please note: The Vivarium is 80 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity.There are roughly 160,000 species of Lepidoptera, the group made up of butterflies and moths. They live all over the world, from the tropics to the Arctic, to inside this museum!Celebrated for their beauty and grace, they are more than just colorful animals. Some are amazingly camouflaged. Some harbor poisons. Some fly thousands of miles to lay eggs. Find out more and experience them up close in the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium.What You'll See in the Davis Family Butterfly VivariumUp to 80 species of butterflies, out of more than 130 species featured in this gallery, from the neon-colored common green birdwing to the starry night crackerA separate display of moths, including the massive atlas moth—one of the largest insects on the planetA pupae incubator, where visitors can view chrysalises and witness adult butterflies emergeMicro environments made up of dozens of species of tropical plants, with exhibits that highlight the important roles butterflies and moths play in ecosystems around the worldA digital microscope and other interactive displaysAn ID board, updated daily, featuring an illustrated card for each species in flight to help you identify butterflies and moths Members See it Free! The Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium is always free for Members! Join/Renew » Denis Fin

Reaching billions of years into the past and peering millions of years into the future, Encounters in the Milky Way is a time-traveling journey about the cosmic movements that shape our galactic neighborhood.Get a front-row seat to spectacular moments in our solar system's past and future, including the paths of stars, comets, interstellar debris, and visually stunning gas and dust clouds–and, visualized for the first time, a dramatic, ongoing merger of our galaxy with a smaller satellite galaxy. Show Transcript [MUSIC BEGINS][A glittering space telescope flies through space with stars in the background.]NARRATOR: We are a product of cosmic encounters.[A scan reveals more and more stars in the galaxy, where we didn’t see any before.]NARRATOR: And what’s happening in the Milky Way Galaxy,[A green bubble of gas appears in a galaxy, with red dust and stars swirling around it.]NARRATOR: –is happening throughout our galactic neighborhood–[A busy field of stars where all the stars are moving on different paths.]NARRATOR: –and across the universe.[A model of our solar system flying through the galaxy.]NARRATOR: I’m Pedro Pascal.[A field of stars where each star is surrounded by a much larger orb.]NARRATOR: Join me on a journey through our–[More stars with orbs around them appear.]NARRATOR: –tight-knit stellar neighborhood–[The Milky Way appears, filled with glowing red and orange dust, and a bright white glowing center.]NARRATOR: –into the bustling metropolis of the Milky Way.[Text appears: American Museum of Natural History. Encounters in the Milky Way. Narrated by Pedro Pascal.][END MUSIC][Credits roll.Encounters in the Milky Way was developed with the major support and partnership of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)With deep gratitude to Van Cleef & ArpelsGenerously sponsored by Robert and Kristin Peck] Developed by a team that includes astronomers, science visualization experts, and artists, Encounters in the Milky Way is made possible by data from one of the most transformative projects of the past century: the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, dubbed the "billion-star survey" for mapping the precise positions, distances, and motions of nearly 2 billion stars in our galaxy. Get Museum Tickets » Select the number of tickets and you will then be able to add the Space Show or other ticketed exhibitions during checkout.The Space Show will screen in the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater, now featuring a high-resolution immersive audio system.Length: 24 minutesShowtimes: Every 30 minutes starting at 10:30 am. Last show is at 4:30 pm.Captioning devices and audio description devices: Please ask a staff memberTranscript: English Encounters in the Milky Way Descriptive Transcript Encounters in the Milky Way Descriptive Transcript (Word) Members See it Free! Ticketed exhibitions are always free for Members! Join Now » A special adaptation of Worlds Beyond Earth Space Show for the giant screen is on view in the Museum’s LeFrak Theater.

Invisible Worlds explores networks of life at all scales—including some that are too fast, too small, or too slow for the human eye. At key moments, you'll become part of the story as your movements affect the projections around you. Show Transcript [MUSIC][The life-sized blue whale model suspended in the Museum's Hall of Ocean Life.]Text on-screen: At the American Museum of Natural History, we've always opened windows into incredible worlds...[A diorama in the Hall of Ocean Life displays a view above and below the ocean's surface. A pod of dolphins swims in the water and leaps out of it.]Text on-screen: Now you can walk through.[The diorama scene dissolves into an animated version of the diorama—the dolphin pod chases a school of fish.][MUSIC SWELLS]Text on-screen: Many of life's connections are too fast...[Neurons flash as electrical signals race between them.]Text on-screen: too slow...[An animation of microorganisms and nutrients cycling through the soil of a rainforest.]Text on-screen: too vast...[Animated flock of parrots soars into the sky above a rainforest tree canopy.]Text on-screen: ...or too tiny to see with the human eye.[Strands of DNA unwind and twist together in a double helix.]Text on-screen: Welcome to INVISIBLE WORLDS[An animated blue whale, surrounded by a cloud of blue bioluminescent organisms swims across the screen, leaving a swirling, glowing wake as it swishes its tail.]Text on-screen: An immersive experience debuting at the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, American Museum of Natural History. Opens May 4, 2023. Get Museum Tickets » Select the number of tickets and the date for Museum entry, and you will then be able to add Invisible Worlds or other ticketed exhibitions during checkout.Related and ConnectedBefore entering the immersive experience, explore the themes that connect life on Earth across thousands of miles, millions of species, and billions of years in the Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Gallery.Discover why your hand resembles a bat's wing. Find out how organisms interact in ecosystems, including as part of complex food webs. And consider the ultimate social network: cells relaying impulses to neighboring cells in the human brain.Become Part of the StoryEnter the venue at any point in the story to begin your journey through Invisible Worlds, an immersive experience based on authentic scientific data visualized like never before. Iwan Baan Travel through the layers of a lush rainforest in Brazil to explore how living things feed, shelter, and support each other from the root network in the soil to the leafy canopy high above the forest floor.Dropping into New York City from above, glimpse networks of satellites tracing Earth's orbit and some of the ways humans connect with each other, and with nature, in Central Park, before delving into the complex network of the human brain.Follow a vertical migration of jellyfish and microscopic plankton that feed on the algae at the ocean's surface—and encounter a majestic humpback whale. Members See It Free! Members see the Invisible Worlds immersive experience free on every visit! Join Today »

Presented as a timeline starting in the 1600s through today, Black in Natural History Museums features profiles of scientists, artists, and curators across natural history fields, from entomology and botany to anthropology and marine biology. Learn about John Edmonstone, a former enslaved person who taught taxidermy to Charles Darwin, and Margaret Collins, the first Black woman to earn a doctorate in entomology, among others. In addition to celebrating the featured naturalists and their accomplishments, the exhibition notes the challenges and adversity Black naturalists have faced in pursuing their work. Daniel Kim/© AMNH Find out about scientists who are working around the world today, including Brandon Kilbourne, a mammalogist at the Natural History Museum Berlin, and American Museum of Natural History’s Curator Jessica Ware, an entomologist who specializes in the study of dragonflies. Get Tickets » Included with any admission. This exhibition is produced by the Black in Natural History Museums organization.

Discover the stories behind the objects that define athletic greatness in For the Win: Objects of Sports Excellence, spanning more than 15 sports and nearly 150 years of history. Featuring an extraordinary collection of trophies, rings, and unique awards, For the Win showcases the tradition of using precious metals and gemstones to commemorate victory.Highlights include the National Football League’s Vince Lombardi Trophy, one of Jesse Owens’s gold medals from the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, a 2024 WNBA Championship ring from New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, and Kevin Durant’s 2024 Team USA Olympic gold medal. The Vince Lombardi Trophy, handcrafted by global luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. since 1967 for the Super Bowl, is seen here with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (left) and running back Kenneth Walker III (right) following the team’s Super Bowl LX victory. The National Football League’s trophy will be featured in For The Win: Objects of Sports Excellence. AP Images The exhibition features over 70 objects across more than 15 sports—including baseball, soccer, tennis, boxing, golf, and swimming, revealing how sports prizes have transformed over time from traditional medals and cups into increasingly elaborate symbols of achievement. Featuring trophies, rings, and medals that represent athletic achievement and the high value placed on winning, the “Victory” display showcases pieces including Kevin Durant’s 2017 NBA Championship ring, which he won with the Golden State Warriors. Alvaro Keding & Daniel Kim/© AMNH

They orbit far beyond our planet’s atmosphere, which blocks infrared and ultraviolet light and distorts ground-based telescope images. They let us watch planets forming, stars exploding, and disks around black holes ejecting jets of gas at almost light speed.In this exhibition, explore more than a dozen dazzling images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and the Gaia mission. Get Tickets » Included with any admission. The planet Jupiter observed in infrared by the James Webb Space Telescope. Red, green, and blue were used to represent three different colors or wavelengths of infrared light in this image. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ricardo Hueso (UPV), Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley), Thierry Fouchet (Observatory of Paris), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley), Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex This dazzling image of a star-forming region ta

Some 400 years ago, European scientists began traveling the globe, and what they saw on these voyages expanded the Western world's knowledge of ocean life as never before.To create the images on display in this gallery, some naturalists sketched their own specimens, and others collaborated with artists and engravers. The result: illustrations that communicate the anatomy, life cycles, habits—and sheer beauty—of newfound marine species. Get Tickets » Included with any admission. Antarctic octopus Engraver Fritz Winter prepared this illustration of an Antarctic octopus for publication in German zoologist Cark Chun's Aus den Tiefen des Weltmeeres: Schilderungen von der Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition (From the depths of the world’s oceans: description of the German Deep-Sea Expedition). Roderick Mickens/© AMNH Tropical Wrasses These vibrantly colored tropical wrasses of the genus Halichoeres were illustrated by noted American ichthyologist David Starr Jordon for The fishes of Samoa (1906).Roderick Mickens/© AMNH The illustrations in this exhibition, and many more, appear in the book Opulent Oceans: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library, by Melanie J. Stiassny, Axelrod Research Curator in the Department of Ichthyology, Division of Vertebrate Zoology. The exhibition is on view in the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core, within the Museum’s Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, and is included with all admission.

In this inaugural exhibition in the new Alcove Gallery of the David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center, explore the history, significance, and challenges of scientific nomenclature, with a focus on insects, through rare books and other unique holdings from the Library's collections. Alvaro Keding/© AMNH Learn about the history of classification, from Aristotle to Linnaeus to the present day, while viewing rare books and illustrated works of entomology from the 17th and 18th centuries, including by Maria Sibylla Merian, Pieter Cramer, and Ulisse Aldrovandi. Get Tickets » Included with any admission. Gottesman Research Library is open Monday–Friday, 10:30 am–5:30 pm.Modern holdings on view include a screen print by Andy Warhol depicting an endangered species of butterfly and a whimsical model of an animal based on a longhorn beetle and named Withus oragainstus, which was added to the Library's collection after it was surreptitiously displayed in the Museum's Hall of Biodiversity in 2005 by an unidentified artist. Diagram of the earliest iconography of genealogical relationships among articulated invertebrates after the Darwinian revolution in Haeckel's Generelle Morphologie der OrganismenQH351 .H3 1866/AMNH Library This whimsical model of an

Grounded by Our Roots features 13 pieces—including paintings, prints, clothing, and sculptures—that showcase contemporary Indigenous art inspired by rich visual arts traditions of the Northwest Coast. The exhibition is produced with guest curator Aliya Boubard, the curator of the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver, who is Anishinaabe and a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. Get Tickets » Included with any admission. Held by Generations by Hawilkwalał Rebecca Baker-Grenier Photography by Alvaro Keding/© AMNH Shines like Gold by SGidGang.Xaal Shoshannah GreenePhotography by Alvaro Keding/© AMNH The artists featured in the gallery are:Hawilkwalał Rebecca Baker-Grenier (Kwakiuł, Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw, Skwxwú7mesh), a fashion designer who debuted her first collection at New York Fashion Week in 2022 and sees “fashion as a living practice that is rooted in our art form, laws, and worldview” Alison Bremner Naxhshagheit (Tlingit), who works in woodcarving, painting, and digital collage, among other media, “exploring the present-day Tlingit experience, each concept ultimately dictating the medium”SGidGang.Xaal Shoshannah Greene (Haida), who studied hand-drawn animation before switching to classical and contemporary Haida formline and “love(s) to explore and play between the worlds of classical formline and contemporary mediums”Nash’mene’ta’naht Atheana Picha (Kwantlen First Nation), whose work is “focused on learning traditional Coast Salish design language and studying Northwest Coast artwork with the introduction of different material practices”Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun (Snuneymuxw First Nation), an interdisciplinary artist who aims to “share our art and our teachings, and ensure that future generations will have that knowledge accessible to them”The exhibition will be on view in the Contemporary Art Gallery, a rotating exhibition gallery in the Museum’s Northwest Coast Hall, and is included with all admission.

Named for its large size, this fossil skeleton is relatively complete and shows signs that this dinosaur lived into old age.Stegosaurs were plant-eating, armored dinosaurs. Notice the spiky tail on the skeleton, shown raised high, ready to swing at potential attackers.Now on view on Floor 4, Apex anchors the entrance to the Museum’s famed fossil halls from the Gilder Center. The exhibit includes a new touchable cast of a Stegosaurus back plate. Alvaro Keding/© AMNH Alvaro Keding/© AMNH The rough surface of the bone was covered in keratin—the same material found in reptilian scales and human fingernails. Visitors can also explore the fossil in more detail at two interactive media stations. This fossil was discovered in 2022 just outside of Dinosaur, Colorado. It is extremely well-preserved, with more than 254 of approximately 320 bone elements. Missing pieces were filled in with 3D-printed and sculpted components.Scientists in the Museum’s Division of Paleontology are now studying a sample of one of Apex’s fossilized thigh bones to learn more about how stegosaurs grew. Show Transcript [MUSIC] [ROGER BENSON appears on screen.]ROGER BENSON (Macaulay Curator, Division of Paleontology): So I think there is a top five of dinosaurs in the popular imagination,[An illustrated silhouette of Stegosaurus appears on screen.]BENSON: and Stegosaurus is definitely among them.[The illustration zooms out and we see the silhouette of Stegosaurus is standing on a podium in 3rd place. A small teardrop appears below its head.]BENSON: It’s probably number three. [A silhouette of T. rex appears on the podium in 1st place, followed by a silhouette of Triceratops in 2nd place.] BENSON: Of course, T. rex is number one, Triceratops is number two–that’s just my personal favorite–followed closely by Stegosaurus.[We zoom back in on the silhouette of Stegosaurus. Its name appears in text beside it, followed by the full video title: “11 Questions About Stegosaurus.” The American Museum of Natural History logo appears.] [A slide replaces this illustration with text: “1. What kind of dinosaur is Stegosaurus?” BENSON reappears on screen speaking. Text appears: “Roger Benson, Macaulay Curator, Division of Paleontology.”]BENSON: So Stegosaurus is a stegosaur, and that sounds ridiculous, but stegosaurs in general take their name from Stegosaurus, [An illustration appears where a circle with the silhouette of Stegosaurus pops up in the center, and is surrounded by six other stegosaur silhouettes, which look slightly different. Text appears with a bracket that encompasses them: “Stegosaurs, 170-145 million years ago.”] BENSON: –and they include other dinosaurs that are generally around in the middle and late Jurassic. So up to about 145 million years ago. And we have fossils of stegosaurs– [The stegosaur silhouettes scatter over a map of the world, showing that they appear on most continents.] BENSON: –from North America, from Europe, Asia and Africa. [BENSON reappears on camera speaking.] BENSON: And it’s possible in fact that they were present on all continents during the Jurassic. [An illustration of a stegosaur with lots of spikes appears. Text appears: “Baiyinosaurus.”] BENSON: Other species of stegosaurs outside of Stegosaurus include– [Two illustrations of different stegosaurs with spikes on their backs and tails appear. Text appears below each: “Kentrosaurus” and “Gigantspinosaurus.”] BENSON: –animals like Kentrosaurus or Gigantspinosaurus. But even among stegosaurs, [An illustration of two Stegosaurus dinosaurs in a bog appears. The illustration zooms in on their back plates, and the spines of a Kentrosaurus appear next to the plates.] BENSON: –Stegosaurus is different than most other species because instead of having just spi

From bees to butterflies, insects help keep natural ecosystems healthy. But the evidence is clear: many insect species are in decline.Experience these tiny animals' outsized impact on our planet through the uniquely powerful macrophotography of Levon Biss, which highlights 40 incredible but imperiled species from specimens from the Museum's world-class research collection in large-format photographs, some as large as 4.5 by 8 feet. Show Transcript EXTINCT & ENDANGERED[Levon Biss examines a delicate butterfly specimen under a desk lamp.]LEVON BISS (Photographer): As a photographer, you know, the most fun you can have is when you’ve got a subject that allows you to play creatively with light.[Biss adjusts pieces on an elaborately-rigged camera and light set-up inside a studio.]BISS: When I photographed humans, for example, I used to use light all the time because it allows me to sculpt around the subject, to emphasize certain features.[Biss arranges the butterfly specimen on the photo rig, very close to the camera lens.]BISS: The challenge here is doing that on the subject is five millimeters long, but the principles are still the same.[Macrophotograph of a brilliant orange and yellow butterfly—the same specimen Biss was arranging in front of the camera.][Text: Extinct & Endangered | Imperiled insects from the collection of the American Museum of Natural History] [The screen is split into a triptych with three different clips of Biss holding a large, black insect (a Lord Howe Island stick insect), pinned in a specimen box. The center strip maintains a clip of Biss and the stick insect, but the flanking scenes show him examining other insect specimens.]BISS: I came into this project, Extinct and Endangered with the view that I think we should talk about more serious and pressing subjects of insect decline and biodiversity.[Biss speaks in his studio.][Text: Levon Biss | Photographer]BISS: I don’t think people really understand the importance of insects and what they do for us—us, as a species, but the planet as a whole.[Biss edits macro images of insects on a desktop computer.BISS: We need to understand that they’re important and we can’t just ignore them because they’re hard to see. [An insect (a firebrat) with scale- and hair-like structures waggles its antenna.]JESSICA WARE (Curator, Division of Invertebrate Zoology): We think that insects evolved sometime around 450 million years ago.[A damselfly alights on a grass stalk.]WARE: But we know that winged insects, they probably evolved around 400 million years ago. It was before the rise of flowering plants.[A mantis sits on the branches of a conifer. A field with thousands of tiny, flying insects, flitting over grasses.]WARE: There was no birds, there was no bat, there were no pterosaurs, there was nothing in the sky until insects.[Ware speaks in her office.][Text: Jessica Ware | Curator, Division of Invertebrate Zoology]WARE: It’s hard to imagine the world before insects because so much of what is characteristic about the Earth that we live in has been shaped by, you know, hundreds of millions of years of insect evolution.[Screen is split between a scene of coffee pouring into a mug and pollinating insects bustling around coffee plant flowers. An ant carries a crumb over a picnic blanket.]WARE: From the morning we got up to the point when I’m speaking to you now, actually insects have been a part of that.[A triptych of a silk moth, dozens of silk cocoons trundling down a factory belt, and a sewing machine at work]WARE: Whether it was in the clothing that we wear,[Dozens of apples move down a conveyor belt. A dung beetle rolls a ball of dung along the ground.]WARE: …the food that we’re eating, there’s a lot of things that we kind of take for granted that insects are doing.[A fly buzzes around the inside of a flower. A butterfly lands sips nectar from a garden blossom.]DAVID GRIMALDI (Curator, Division of Invertebrate Zoology): Most people don’t know about the incredibly important ecological roles that so many insects play. [Grimaldi speaks in his office.][Text: David Grimaldi | Curator, Division of Invertebrate Zoology]GRIMALDI: They’re the main pollinators of plants. About 85 percent of the world’s flowering plants are pollinated by insects.[Termites chew on a dead leaf.]WARE: You know, they decompose things.[A woodpecker delivers a mouthful of insect larvae to its young.]WARE: They’re a great source of food for a lot of animals. They really structure our ecosystem. [A beetle crawls across a fern and spreads its wings.]WARE: Understanding the history of Earth is understanding the history of insects. [Rodger Gwiazdowski speaks from his lab.][Text: Rodger Gwiazdoski | Entomologist]RODGER GWIAZDOWSKI, Entomologist: I think a core responsibility as a scientist, regardless of what field you’re in, is that you make the unseen seen.[A small tiger beetle darts across a hand displaying it to the camera.]GWIAZDOWSKI: And I think insects get overlooked a lot and get unseen a lot.[A macro view of the same tiger beetle species. A full view of a beetle is flanked by extreme close-ups of its front legs, sporting dozens of spiky hair-like structures.]GWIAZDOWSKI: But when you can see them literally larger than life, it’s a way to realize their importance in the world.[Biss zooms in to an image of the stick insect on his desktop computer.]BISS: Working at this kind of magnification brings a whole new set of challenges. With every different insect that you photograph, there’s so many different elements to it that are unique to that specific insect.[Montage of macro images showing diverse, hair-like structures on the bodies of beetles, butterflies, and bees.]BISS: Hairs, for example, come in so many different varieties. [Biss speaks in his studio.]BISSS: Before I started shooting macro and insects, I had no idea about, you know, the fact that the hairs on the back of a tiger beetles seem to be hollow.[Triptych of macro images of different tiger beetle hairs.] BISS: Certainly, when you put light on them, they kind of glow. [Hands open a specimen drawer in the Museum’s entomology research collections.]GWIAZDOWSKI: Tiger beetles in North America are small. They’re about an inch to about a half inch long.[Close-up of two tiger beetle specimens pinned with labels. Their eyes take up a large portion of their heads.]GWIAZDOWSKI: They all have large, very large eyes, bug eyes, on their head with these very large jaws.[A living tiger beetle pauses for a moment on the sand and then runs off.]GWIAZDOSKI: They’re vicious predators. And they all have very, very long legs because they’re fast runners.[Waves, formed in the wake of a motor boat, lap up on to a sandy river beach.]GWIAZDOSKI: Tiger beetles have inherently evolved to live in very dynamic environments, whether it’s deserts or beaches.[Drone footage of city office buildings and a busy highway along the Connecticut River in Massachusetts.]GWIAZDOSKI: The problem is that we as humans have made some of those habitats unlivable-ly dynamic, even for tiger beetles.[Grimaldi speaks in his office.]GRIMALDI: The first indication that we had that drew a lot of alarm to the plummeting of insect populations and species diversity was a 2017 study[A copy of the research paper lies on the forest floor. An ant crawls over a graph plotting the amount of biomass versus the progression of years from 1990 to 2015. It shows a downward trend.]GRIMALDI: …which recorded dramatic declines in specimen numbers and species numbers. And that was in Germany.[Grimaldi speaks in his office.]GRIMALDI: Since then, people have rounded up data and we’re doing a lot more studies, but the indications are that it’s happening globally. And it’s something that people have noticed anecdotally for a long time.[A single moth flutters around a porch light at night.]GRIMALDI: Where are all the moths at the porch lights?[Archival footage of a car driving down a motorway in 1970s UK.]BISS: When I was a kiddie, I remember you go out in a car on the motorway, a freeway, your windshield and the front of the car will be spattered wi

The new exhibition Fossils of the Flaming Cliffs celebrates the history of the Museum’s fossil excavations in the Gobi through large-scale photography and fossil casts of landmark discoveries.Museum scientists have been traveling to the Gobi for over 100 years, searching for the beautifully preserved dinosaur, lizard, and mammal fossils that lie just below the sand. Their spectacular discoveries have transformed our understanding of ancient life. In the 1920s, the Museum team, led by legendary fossil collector Roy Chapman Andrews, discovered several nests of dinosaur eggs at Flaming Cliffs. Their discovery provided the first clear evidence of how dinosaurs reproduced. James B. Shackelford; AMNH 410765 The lack of maps and roads made driving through the Gobi challenging. Intense storms produced muddy, sodden ground that was nearly impossible to drive through. People on today’s expeditions face similar challenges.

Find out about the past, present, and future of representing cultures at the American Museum of Natural History in the new exhibition The Changing Museum.Why did two Native American Halls close?In early 2024, the Museum closed the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains halls in response to changes to the regulations that implement the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)—and because they did not respect the values and perspectives of Indigenous peoples. The updated regulations now require consent from Indigenous communities to display, access, or research certain sensitive cultural items. Some of these items may have been included among the hundreds of items in the halls, prompting the closures. The Changing Museum is located at the entrance to the former Hall of Eastern Woodlands, which closed in January 2024. Alvaro Keding/© AMNH "The halls we closed are vestiges of an era when museums such as ours did not respect the values, perspectives, and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples. Actions that may feel sudden to some may seem long overdue to others."– Sean Decatur, President, American Museum of Natural HistoryWhat is NAGPRA?This 1990 law allows lineal descendants, federally recognized tribes, and Native Hawaiian Organizations in the U.S. to seek the return of cultural items and ancestral remains from institutions that receive government funding, including this one.Items eligible for return under NAGPRA are:human remains burial objectssacred objects, needed for current religious practicesobjects of cultural patrimony (of such central importance that no individual had the right to remove them from the community)Other items are not subject to return under NAGPRA, although they may be returned through other arrangements. Addressing the Museum’s Collecting HistoryDuring the 19th and early 20th century, anthropologists, government agents, and even members of the public filled shelves of American universities and museums, including this one. Human remains and grave offerings were collected, along with oral histories, photos, body measurements, cultural objects of all kinds, and archaeological material. Viewed by today’s standards, these unethical collecting practices have necessitated the recent returns of human remains and certain cultural objects to descendant communities.While the Museum’s collecting practices have changed, caring for, and sometimes returning, these invaluable historical collections remains an unfinished responsibility. Consultation is an ongoing endeavor, and the Cultural Resources Office facilitates repatriation activities for the Museum. Show Transcript [Members of a delegation from the Tohono O’odham Nation carry an artifact wrapped in plastic from a crate to a table inside the Museum’s Anthropology collections space.]OFF-SCREEN VOICE: [Speaks Native language] Eagle? You think those are eagle feathers?[Delegation members remove a large feathered headdress from the plastic wrapping and lay it on a table with other pieces.] [SAMUEL FAYUANT speaks to camera from the Museum's Anthropology wing:]SAMUEL FAYUANT (Tohono O’Odham Nation Cultural Affairs Specialist): Spiritually, you know, we think when we bring the artifacts back, we're bringing the person back home. [Delegation members compare an old black-and-white photograph of a person wearing a costume with the costume pieces laid out on the table] FAYUANT: It's very touching, you know, because for us having a person put on the costume, that becomes the person. [Fayuant speaks to camera:]FAYUANT: My name is Samuel Fayuant. I'm a member of Tohono O’odham nation in southern Arizona. [Montage of Fayuant discussing various artifacts with the other delegation members.]FAYUANT: I currently work for the Cultural Affairs Tribal Historic Preservation Office. And it has given me the opportunity to come into New York and start working on repatriation of our sacred items at the American Museum Natural History, New York.[SUBDUED XYLOPHONE MUSIC][The Museum’s logo unfurls over footage of the Museum’s Anthropology collections storage. First, a long hallway with tall wood and glass cabinets. Then, a room full of storage compactors with some artifacts laid out on a table]NELL MURPHY (DIRECTOR OF CULTURAL RESOURCES): The Division of Anthropology houses an extensive collection of ethnographic material from all over the country.[A closed wooden office door bears the words “Cultural Resources Office” with two nameplates beneath: one reads “Nell Murphy” and the other “Kathryn Sabella.”][Nell Murphy types at a computer in her office.]MURPHY: The Cultural Resources Office oversees all repatriation activities for the American Museum of Natural History.[Murphy speaks to camera at a table in the Cultural Resources Office.]MURPHY: Generally spe

Occupying the entire first floor of the museum’s Carnegie Mansion, Design Across Time expands public access to Cooper Hewitt’s collection and includes significant works newly brought out of storage. Through objects spanning time, geography, and discipline—including graphic design, product design, fashion, textiles, furniture, wallcoverings, digital design, and architecture—this exhibition highlights the breadth of the national design collection. Design Across Time organizes the museum’s vast collection around thematic clusters to explore some of the many approaches designers use in their creative process. Designers Play and Tweak to experiment and iterate ideas. They Repeat elements to reinforce messages; Transform materials into sustainable solutions; Show Off craftsmanship to create objects of beauty; or Simplify complex shapes and information.

Part of Design Across Time, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg’s The Substitute is an immersive video and sound installation that digitally resurrects the extinct male Northern white rhino using artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art visual effects.

Artists have left their mark on the MoMA PS1 building since the institution opened in 1976. These site-specific works range in scale and materials—some utilize bold or colorful gestures, while others camouflage themselves as architectural elements. Together, the interventions form the building’s “second skin,” a layer of artworks across our campus that offer glimpses into the Museum’s evolution as a site embedded with artists’ visions. Visitor Engagement staff offer daily gallery talks on these interventions during museum hours. Schedules are available on site.

One of artist James Turrell’s celebrated Skyspaces, Meeting is a site-specific installation that invites viewers to gaze upwards toward an unobstructed view of the sky. A key representative of the “Light and Space” movement centered in Los Angeles during the 1960s, James Turrell creates works of art that consist primarily of light, exploring fundamental questions about the nature of human perception by rendering tangible the act of vision. Meeting was the second Skyspace that Turrell constructed and the first in the United States—becoming a prototype for the many subsequent such works he would construct over the following decades. Originally commissioned in 1976 by P.S.1 founder Alanna Heiss for the museum’s inaugural exhibition, the work was not realized until 1980, and Turrell continued to make modifications until it opened to the public in 1986. In 2016, after a renovation that replaced the original seating and added a new multi-colored lighting program synchronized with the sunrise and sunset, Meeting entered the collection of The Museum of Modern Art. Meeting is located on the northern side of MoMA PS1’s third floor. Access is included with gallery admission during regular museum hours. Please note that capacity is limited and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors are encouraged to monitor the weather and dress accordingly. Meeting will be closed in the case of rain, snow, or other inclement weather. The installation features a multicolored lighting program synchronized to sunrise and sunset that subtly shifts in color as the sky gradates in tone.

Homeroom is a new program at MoMA PS1 that was initiated to amplify and celebrate artists who work with our collaborators and partnership initiatives, who are the authors of each activation in this space. Recalling the histories of the building as the first school in Long Island City and then a site for creative experimentation since PS1’s founding in 1976, Homeroom offers opportunities to connect with others, to learn and unlearn, and to imagine ways of being that prioritize care and reciprocity.

Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art How might American art be experienced at this moment? In honor of our 200th anniversary , a transformative reinstallation of the American Art galleries reorients the ways that the Brooklyn Museum exhibits—and audiences rediscover—this acclaimed collection. A kaleidoscopic display offers paradigm-shifting interactions with millennia of art. Black feminist and BIPOC perspectives act as through lines in this vast presentation of more than 400 works. In each of eight galleries, you’ll find a thought-provoking framework inspired by the abundant contributions of historically marginalized cultural producers. Every space is a distinct encounter with the collection, from the bloom-covered walls in “To Give Flowers” to the contemplative respite of “A Quiet Place,” to the chance to strut the runway before an audience of seated portraits in “Several Seats.” Featuring both collection highlights, such as Laura Wheeler Waring’s Woman with Bouquet , and brand-new acquisitions, such as works by Japanese American artist Hisako Hibi, the galleries reflect the beauty, wonder, and complexity of American art through the ages. Myriad voices—of curators, artists, Brooklyn Botanic Garden staff, and NYC drag queens, to name a few—add to the many conversations and questions that the reinstallation surfaces. While grappling with heavy histories, the display emphasizes joy, celebrating American art and artists in all their forms. You’re invited to discover them anew and take a fresh look at a foundational collection. Take a guided exploration of the galleries with Stephanie Sparling Williams, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art, through our audio guide on Bloomberg Connects . Don’t forget your headphones.

There’s plenty to see—for free—before you reach our Admissions Desk. From fixtures such as Deborah Kass’s OY/YO , which has greeted visitors since 2018, to installations that transform our front steps, public art sets the stage for the full Brooklyn Museum experience. Revisit this page often to find what’s new and rediscover fan favorites. Ready for more? Get tickets today to encounter all five floors of unforgettable artworks and exhibitions.