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Texas Memorial Museum, Austin

4.1

#12 of 16 in Museums in Austin

Natural History Museum Museum

The Texas Memorial Museum, which is located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas, USA, is named in honor of the 1936 Texas Centennial. The museum's focus is on natural history, including paleontology, geology, biology, herpetology, ichthyology and entomology. At one point, the museum also had exhibits on Texas history, anthropology, geography, and ethnography, but these were relocated to other museums (including the Bullock Texas State History Museum) in 2001. The museum has 75,000 visitors annually.The building was designed in the Art Deco style by John F. Staub, with Paul Cret as supervising architect. Ground was broken for the building by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1936. The museum was opened on January 15, 1939.The museum won "Best of Austin" awards from the Austin Chronicle in 2002 and 2005.In October 2013, it was announced that the museum would be losing $400,000 in funding and that the staff would be reduced from twelve employees to four: the museum director, a security guard, a gift shop operator, and one other employee. The museum now is open five days a week and charges admission.

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Where to stay in Austin

Austin bills itself as the "Live Music Capital of the World," so it shouldn't come as a surprise that many of its hotels sell out long before the city's popular festivals. If you wish to stay near downtown's live music scene, look for package deals and book your accommodations well in advance. If downtown clubs and bars aren't your priority, consider hotels located just outside the central part of town, in comfortable areas where you won't need a car to get to most of the city's major cultural sites.

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56 reviews

Google

4.3

pegomeg

Fascinating place but I tired of it after half an hour. Grandson of 6 liked it as did my husband. Much like going to the zoo except all is dead. Fossils bones taxidermy and living humans galore! more »
astrojane

I took a day to walk from the Congress Ave bridge to the museums north of the Capital. My total favorite was the less well known, so I have to promote it. The Texas Memorial Museum is the history of T... more »
jennifer s

Really enjoyed the dinosaur/prehistoric exhibit as well as the various animals of Texas exhibit. The top floor was kind of meh---seemed more geared towards children. more »

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Alejandra Levy

Love this museum. It is small so perfect for taking small children or lots of children. They have cool dinosaur phones and one of the floor has a lots of specimens in bottles. Kids love the gift shop.

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Montanna Smith

Definitely a hidden treasure in Austin. I actually prefer this museum to the Bob Bullock. Their collection of fossils is impressive, but I'm sad that I went back and the comment card binder was no longer on the 4th floor. 5th star lost because wheelchair access is difficult and not readily obvious.

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Christopher Joseph Clearman

Great way to spend a Saturday. Kids and adults will love it!

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Janie Alba

I enjoy looking olsd fossils

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Michael Rohrbacher

Awesome collection, very diverse, admission fee is very small and the place is quiet, clean and friendly. My daughter loved all of the dinosaur bones and fossils, of which they have a massive collection.

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