Houston Museum of Natural Science

As one of the nation's most heavily attended museums, the Houston Museum of Natural Science is a centerpiece of the Houston Museum District. With four floors of permanent exhibition halls and venues, including the Wortham IMAX Theatre, the Cockrell Butterfly Center, the Burke Baker Planetarium, and the George Observatory, and as host to world-class and ever-changing touring exhibitions, the Houston Museum has something to delight every age group. With such diverse and extraordinary offerings, a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, located at One Hermann Circle Drive in the heart of the Museum District, is always an adventure.

Permanent exhibition halls range across four floors, from the "Texas-sized" Wiess Energy Hall to the world-renowned Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals, and include the John P. McGovern Hall of the Americas, the Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Hall of Paleontology, and the Welch Chemistry Hall, which contains interactive hands-on displays, and a live demonstration theater.

In addition to creating its own exhibitions such as Kremlin Gold: 1000 Years of Russian Gems and Jewels and Human Genome: Reading the Book of Life, as well as this year's Gold! Natural Treasure, Cultural Obsession, an exhibition exclusive to Houston, the Museum hosts a great variety of traveling exhibitions from around the world. Since 2000, the Museum has hosted Voyages of Discovery; Secret World of the Forbidden City: Splendors from China's Imperial Palace; Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga; Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit; The Dead Sea Scrolls; Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World, and the U.S. premiere of Saint Peter and the Vatican: Legacy of the Popes. The 2005 schedule includes The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: The Exhibition, opening June 4; Mummy: The Inside Story, opening September 30; and Diana: A Celebration, opening October 21.

For more information, call 713-639-4629 or visit www.hmns.org.