During your visit to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, explore the Museum’s exhibition halls featuring around 10,000 artifacts and scientific specimens from the Museum’s extraordinary collection. Enjoy lunch in Carnegie Café or Fossil Fuel Café. In the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Store, a unique shopping experience awaits you.
Permanent Exhibition Halls
On display in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s exhibition halls are approximately 10,000 items from the Museum’s collection of 22 million objects and scientific specimens that document the history of life and human cultures. Blending historic dioramas with cutting-edge research, permanent exhibition halls take you on a journey through discovery from the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition to the Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians exhibition.
Geology and Palaeontology
Geology and Palaeontology is explored throughout exhibitions: Dinosaurs in Their Time, Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems, Wertz Gallery: Gems & Jewelry, Benedum Hall of Geology, PaleoLab and Ice Age Animals. Discover current scientific evidence that supports dinosaurs and their environments, see dinosaur fossil skeletons on display and experience the thrill of unearthing dinosaur and mammal fossils in the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition. Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems showcases more than 1,300 minerals and gems from across the globe. Do not miss Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems’ displays on quartz, calcite, pseudomorphism, twinning, mineral locality suites and lithology which add to the educational and visual experience of the exhibition. Wertz Gallery: Gems and Jewelry is a 2,000 square-foot addition to Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems where you can learn about gems, the crystals from which they come and the jewelry made from the precious stones. Discover the dynamic, ever-changing nature of planet Earth in Benedum Hall of Geology. In this exhibition watch Shaping Earth, a video that will introduce you to the notion that the surface of the Earth is anything but “rock study,” experience a stimulated elevator ride that takes you 16,000 feet into the Earth, or discover how fossils can tell many things about past life and yield information about ancient geography and climate. The PaleoLab is an authentic lab used by preparators, specialists who remove fossils from the surrounding rock, or matrix. Watch as a fossil slowly emerges from its matrix during a visit to the PaleoLab. Ice Age Animals in Cenozoic Hall explores the most recent 65 million years of the history of life on Earth. Highlights in Cenozoic Hall include animals from California’s famous Rancho La Brea tar pits such as the Colombian mammoth with stone spear points, the Irish elk, and New Zealand’s moa, a large flightless bird.
Wildlife and Ecology
Step into the Hall of African Wildlife and learn about four of the African continent’s major life zones: savanna, rainforest, mountain and desert and the animals that live there brought to life by a realistic diorama. See North America’s most amazing animals in natural habitat dioramas in the Hall of North American Wildlife with highlights including: bulk elk, the endangered jaguar, walruses, a group of pronghorns, North American mountain goats and a pair of white-tailed deer. In Botany Hall, investiage the incredible diversity of plant life as you explore four different biomes found in the continental United States including: a Florida everglade, a Mt. Rainier alpine meadow, an Arizona desert and a Pennsylvania valley. Watch a population map as it changes across the timeline of human history, explore the ways population impacts global cities and discover how changes in medicine and science affect populations in Population Impacts.
Anthropology
Learn about humankind past and present throughout Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s anthropology exhibitions. In Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt, both mysteries and the vibrant everyday life of the Egyptians are brought to life through ancient artifacts such as the funerary boat excavated between 1894 and 1895 at Dashur, near Cairo and detailed reproductions like the tomb from a workmen’s village. From the colonization of the Canadian north to the present day, Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life presents the story of Inuit adaption to the challenging environment of the Arctic. In Alcoa Foundation of American Indians, Native American cultures are presented in an exhibition organized around Native American’s relationships with the natural world. Highlights within the exhibition include artifacts created specifically for the exhibition by contemporary artists, human figures featured in the dioramas made from casts of American Indians and the head dress once worn by Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota holy man.
Hands On in Discovery Basecamp
Discovery Basecamp is a new, 1,900-square-foot gallery devoted to hands-on, interactive learning for all ages featuring real and replica specimens, educational kits, and tools for observation. Slow down, rest and take a good look at natural objects.
Dining at Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Enjoy a snack or lunch at Carnegie Café, located on the Museum’s first floor near the Fountain Entry or at Fossil Fuels on the Museum’s lower level. You will find a selection of sandwiches, salads, pastries and beverages at both eateries. In addition, the Wine and Snack Bar at the front of Carnegie Café features wine, soda and light, healthy snacks.
Shopping in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Store
Be sure to stop by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Store. Accessories, books, clothing and dinosaur paraphernalia are some of the items available to purchase.
- In addition to its permanent exhibition halls, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History features temporary exhibitions.
- Still photography for personal, non-commercial use is permitted in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s permanent exhibition halls. Some special exhibitions, galleries and individual artworks may have restrictions on photography due to loan and copyright requirements. More information on photography can be found in the Museum floor plan.