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Texas Memorial Museum, Austin

4.1
#11 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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Reviews
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
60 reviews
Google
4.3
TripAdvisor
  • August 7, 2017
    Located on the UT campus, is a small science musuem. Went on a Saturday, not many people there and had no trouble parking. Admission is $3/$2 for adult/child. The security guard seen when you walk in ...  more »
  • July 8, 2017
    The museum is tucked in the University of Texas campus. Tickets are inexpensive. Beautiful gem, mineral and paleontology collection. Took me and my 8 year about an hour to cover the whole thing. Nice ...  more »
  • June 18, 2017
    My wife and I took our grandkids to this museum to seek refuge from the oppressive heat and to acclimate them to the wonders of museums. While the museum is small and somewhat dated, it was gratifying...  more »
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Google
  • February 27, 2017
    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.
  • April 19, 2017
    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.
  • February 28, 2017
    Great way to spend a Saturday. Kids and adults will love it!
  • June 3, 2017
    I enjoy looking olsd fossils
  • November 24, 2016
    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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