UWS Museum Of Natural History Reopening Iconic Hall: What To Know

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The Northwest Coast Hall at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side will reopen on Friday after a five-year renovation.

The museum's oldest gallery, which first opened in 1899, showcases the creativity and history of the cultures of the Pacific Northwest.

“The Museum’s historic first gallery and first cultural Hall, the Northwest Coast Hall has been fully reimagined, painstakingly conserved, and gloriously reinvigorated,” said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History, in a news release.

The updated Northwest Coast Hall, which cost $19 million to complete, was developed as part of a collaboration between museum staff and a group of consulting curators from Native Nations and of the Northwest Coast "who helped guide object selection, exhibit design, and exhibit interpretation."

The 10,2000 square-foot gallery has more than 1,000 items on display, including the iconic 63-foot-long Great Canoe, the largest in existence, which has been relocated within the hall for the first time in 70 years.

Multimedia displays highlighting the people of the Pacific Northwest and their traditions have also been added.

“I am honored to have worked with Co-Curator Ḥaa’yuups and the project’s Consulting Curators, whose expertise, dedication, and longstanding partnership made the revitalization of this Hall possible," curator Peter Whiteley said in a news release.

You can find out more about the Northwest Coast Hall on the museum's website.