Harvard Museum of Natural History

Frommer's Review

This fascinating museum, along with the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology house the university's collections of items and artifacts related to the natural world. Just about everyone finds something interesting here, be it a 42-foot-long dinosaur skeleton, the largest turtle shell in the world, an exploration of climate science, a Native American artifact, or the Museum of Natural History's world-famous Glass Flowers.

The Glass Flowers are 3,000 models of more than 840 plant species devised between 1887 and 1936 by the German father-and-son team of Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. You may be skeptical, but it's true: They look real. Children love the zoological collections, where dinosaurs share space with preserved and stuffed insects and animals that range in size from butterflies to giraffes. Arthropods -- insects, centipedes, spiders, and other creepy-crawlies -- have their own multimedia installation. The mineralogical collections are the most specialized but can be just as interesting as the rest, especially if gemstones hold your interest.

Language of Color, an exhibit opening Sept. 28, 2008, looks at the world through the prism of animals -- not just what they look like but what they perceive.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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