Former name | National Museum of Rhodesia. |
---|---|
Established | 1964 |
Location | Bulawayo, Zimbabwe |
Type | Natural history museum |
Website | Official website |
The Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe is located in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Leopold Takawira Avenue.
Designed by architect James Whalley, the museum officially opened in 1964, the museum contains exhibits illustrating the history, mineral wealth and wildlife of Zimbabwe, including the second largest mounted elephant in the world. It is one of the five national museums nationwide and the only natural history museum in Zimbabwe.
The museum has nine public display galleries, a lecture hall with a seating capacity of 120 people, a cafeteria, and eight research departments with substantial study collections and ongoing research in the following disciplines: Arachnology and invertebrates, Entomology, Ornithology, Mammology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Paleontology and Geology and Archaeology.
1901 - Cecil Rhodes visited Bulawayo and received a request from the Rhodesia Scientific Board to build a museum to house their growing collection of minerals.
1 January 1902 - The Rhodesia Museum came into being with Mr F.P. Mennell as the Geologist and he was the first curator. At this time the museum was housed at the now Bulawayo Public Library.
September 1905 - the Museum Committee moved to the former Congregation Chapel after buying the Chapel. This museum was opened by Professor G Darwin, President of the British Association.
1910 - the now Parcels Office, situated at corner Fort Street and 8th Avenue was donated to the Museum Committee by the British South African Company.
21 August 1910 - informal opening
November 1910 - official opening by Prince Arthur, son of Queen Victoria.
1936 - the Government acquired the museum that was renamed the National Museum of Rhodesia.
1960 - land in Centenary park was availed by Bulawayo City Council and the building began
20 March 1964 - the museum was officially opened to the public. Up to this time the museum was mainly focused on economic ecology
1981 - the National Museums and Monuments streamlined the operations of its five museums and as a result the National Museum was renamed the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe. All the natural science collections from the other museums were moved to the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe.
The museum was built to house geology collections and therefore there are many geology exhibits in the museum. There is over 15 000 rock, gems and crystal samples. The collections include the rare, but famous Zambia broken hill lean/zinc minerals and kermesite specimens. The geology collections are housed in the Mennell Gallery, also called the Geology gallery. There is also a walk through mine, where visitors can actually get the feel of a typical Zimbabwean mine. [1]
The Palaeontological collection has over 2500 specimens that include plant fossils, various dinosaurs as well as early mammals, fish and other invertebrates.
It is presented in the Mennell Gallery where and the unique dinosaur fauna take the centre stage.
The department was established in 1911. It holds over 5 million insects specimen, only a few are on public displays though. The larger percentage is housed in the George Arnold Entomological laboratory.
The department was established in 1983 and holds over 20,000 spider specimen.
The department holds a collection of fish, and on public displays they only have frogs displayed.
The department collects reptile and amphibian specimen. Most of these are dead. Only a few snakes are living. It is housed in the Donald Broadley Gallery. Dr Broadley was the first appointed curator of the department when the department was established in 1956.
The department of ornithology holds the largest and most important collection in Africa of bird skins, nests, eggs, skeletons. The collections were obtained locally and in the neighbouring Botswana, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania and Kenya.
The department holds mammals specimen collections. These are mainly skins coming from the Department of Game and Fisheries, the Department of National Parks and the Department of Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Control. The specimen in form of animals are housed in the Livingstone Sango-Moyo Gallery.
The department is responsible for the preservation of history exhibits and structures in the museum. These exhibits are housed in the Hall of Kings and the Hall of Man.
Displays the history of Zimbabwe, but this history is mainly focused on the Matebele people or the Ndebele State in particular. There is little or nothing about the Rozvi State, Great Zimbabwe State and other kings who were not Ndebele State kings.
Mainly for displaying the developments of humans from the early hominids to present.
The museum has a special library that started operation in 1902 at the inauguration of the museum. The library houses mostly scientific and historical materials in the form of books and journals. Also found in the library are geological maps for Zimbabwe as well as photographs.
Curator | Department |
---|---|
George Arnold | Entomology |
Cranmer Cooke | Archaeology |
Roger Summers | Archaeology |
Neville Jones | Archaeology |
Elliot Charles Gordon Pinhey | Entomology |
Donald G. Broadley | Herpetology |
Michael Patrick Stuart Irwin | Ornithology |
Reay Henry Noble Smithers | Ornithology |
Kudzanayi Dhliwayo | Ornithology |
Alick Ndlovu | Geology |
Dorothy Madamba | Entomology |
Dr Moira Fitzpatrick | Arachnology |
Nobuhle Sithole | Ichthyology |
Tsitsi Maponga | Mammalogy |
Archaeology | Archaeology |
Kudzai Mafuwe | Entomology |
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Natural History Museum's main frontage, however, is on Cromwell Road.
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about 1.2 million. Bulawayo covers an area of about 546 square kilometres in the western part of the country, along the Matsheumhlope River. Along with the capital Harare, Bulawayo is one of two cities in Zimbabwe that is also a province.
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational and scientific programs, and its extensive scientific specimen and artifact collections. The permanent exhibitions, which attract up to 2 million visitors annually, include fossils, current cultures from around the world, and interactive programming demonstrating today's urgent conservation needs. The museum is named in honor of its first major benefactor, Marshall Field, the department-store magnate. The museum and its collections originated from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the artifacts displayed at the fair.
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7.1 million visitors, it was the eighteenth most visited museum in the world and the second most visited natural history museum in the world after the Natural History Museum in London. Opened in 1910, the museum on the National Mall was one of the first Smithsonian buildings constructed exclusively to hold the national collections and research facilities. The main building has an overall area of 1.5 million square feet (140,000 m2) with 325,000 square feet (30,200 m2) of exhibition and public space and houses over 1,000 employees.
Manchester Museum is a museum displaying works of archaeology, anthropology and natural history and is owned by the University of Manchester, in England. Sited on Oxford Road (A34) at the heart of the university's group of neo-Gothic buildings, it provides access to about 4.5 million items from every continent. It is the UK's largest university museum and serves both as a major visitor attraction and as a resource for academic research and teaching. It has around 430,000 visitors each year.
The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium is a museum dedicated to natural history, located in Brussels, Belgium. The museum is a part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Its most important pieces are 30 fossilised Iguanodon skeletons, which were discovered in 1878 in Bernissart, Belgium.
The Natural History Museum is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major museums in Germany alongside Naturmuseum Senckenberg in Frankfurt and Museum Koenig in Bonn.
Eastern New Mexico University is a public university with a main campus in Portales, New Mexico, and two associate degree-granting branches, one at Ruidoso and one at Roswell. ENMU is New Mexico's largest regional comprehensive university and is the most recently founded state university in New Mexico. It is a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution and a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. The ENMU System consists of three campuses. The current Chancellor is Dr. James N Johnston who assumed office in 2022.
The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the Museum Act 1969.
The Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) is a museum located in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The museum shows exhibits of natural history subjects, with an emphasis on Utah and the Intermountain West. The mission of the museum is to illuminate the natural world and the place of humans within it. A new building, named the Rio Tinto Center, opened in November 2011. The museum is part of the University of Utah and is located in the university's Research Park.
The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild; today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum, London. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptiles and insects in the United Kingdom. It was known as the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum until April 2007. The museum is located on Akeman Street, in Tring, Hertfordshire.
The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol. The museum houses art, artifacts, and ecofacts that reflect New York’s cultural, natural, and geological development. Operated by the New York State Education Department's Office of Cultural Education, it is the oldest and largest state museum in the US. Formerly located in the State Education Building, the museum now occupies the first four floors of the Cultural Education Center, a ten-story, 1,500,000-square-foot (140,000 m2) building that also houses the New York State Archives and New York State Library.
The Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology is a part of the French National Museum of Natural History. It is situated in the Jardin des plantes in Paris near the gare d'Austerlitz train station. The gallery displays a collection of crystals, gemstones and minerals parmi les plus anciennes et les plus prestigieuses du monde.
The Georgia Museum of Natural History is the U.S. state of Georgia's museum of natural history located in Athens, Georgia. The museum has eleven different collections in Anthropology, Arthropods, Botany, Geology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate, Mammalogy, Mycology, Ornithology, and Zooarchaeology. In addition, there are exhibitions, archives, and entertainment for children. The Exhibit Gallery is free and open to the public during scheduled hours. People can schedule a tour to visit the collections by appointment.
The New Jersey State Museum is located at 195-205 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey. The museum's collections include natural history specimens, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, and cultural history and fine art objects. Exhibitions, educational activities, research programs, and lectures are also offered. The museum, a division of the New Jersey Department of State, includes a 140-seat planetarium and a 384-seat auditorium.
The University of Michigan Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.
The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University is one of the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It was founded by the philanthropist George Peabody in 1866 at the behest of his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh, an early paleontologist. Most known to the public for its Great Hall of Dinosaurs, which includes a mounted juvenile Brontosaurus and the 110-foot-long (34 m) mural The Age of Reptiles. It also has permanent exhibits dedicated to human and mammal evolution; wildlife dioramas; Egyptian artifacts; and the birds, minerals, and Native Americans of Connecticut.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Michael Patrick Stuart Irwin was a British-Rhodesian ornithologist.