Once again inspiring the imaginations of all, the Natural History Museum has reopened its doors to the public after seven months of renovation. The Saturday, April 4, grand reopening had been a long-awaited event for a museum that has long been a staple in Albuquerque.
The day started with the ribbon-cutting to open the museum. Outside the event, guests enjoyed performances of lion dancers as they ate food from food trucks, and then were guided in by staff wearing dinosaur costumes.
Executive Director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Anthony Fiorillo said 1,600 tickets were sold online prior to the reopening.
Along with building maintenance work on the museum, the renovations included new skylights and a new lobby. The museum chose to renovate the lobby to streamline traffic into the museum, which was in full effect during the reopening with a line out the door.
Along with the renovations, the museum rearranged over a third of its exhibits; however, they kept the classics as the museum wanted to keep its connection between the public and the museum, Fiorillo said.
“We actually have some samurai helmets and a crocodile armor suit from an old Egyptian warrior,” Fiorillo said.
With the reopening, the museum has a new traveling armored animal exhibit on display until November. The animal armor exhibit explores how animals have evolved defensive armor to protect themselves from predators and competition over the last 500 million years.
Museum visitor Santiago Maculis was impressed by the renovations.
“Definitely an amazing job they did over there,” Maculis said.
Lauren Volchansky, a visitor at the museum, shared her favorite element of the museum.
“It’s always been the sound that plays in the ocean area. I don’t know, that sound was just always comforting to me. And it was a nice, calm experience before entering the terrifying asteroid part,” Volchansky said.
Another visitor, Jason Mercede, shared his favorite elements as well.
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“I just loved seeing all the bosses, like a giant dinosaur, because seeing the grand scale of everything compared to how small we are. Just put a better visual, just how small we actually are compared to things cool,” Mercede said.
Elizabeth Bolke is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
