The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, branded and commonly known as Te Papa (officially translated as Our Place, but more correctly "The exhibition of treasures"), is the national museum of New Zealand.

It is located on the waterfront in Wellington in a striking $NZ300 million building of 36,000 square metres floor area. The museum also incorporates outdoor environments with caves, native bush and wetlands. Alternative meanings at Wellington (disambiguation) A view of Wellington from the top of Mount Victoria. ...

Te Papa opened on 14 February 1998 and achieved 1 million visitors within five months. February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

The building has not been without its controversial side. The siting of the nation's most important collection of historical artefacts at the water's edge on reclaimed land next to one of the world's most active earthquake fault lines has occasioned no small amount of concern. There has been criticism of the 'sideshow' nature of some exhibits (primarily the Time Warp section). There was also criticism that some exhibits were not given due reverence - for example a major work by Colin McCahon juxtaposed with a 1950s refrigerator in a New Zealand culture exhibit. Colin John McCahon (1919 - 1987) was a New Zealand artist, art gallery worker, and university lecturer. ... // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning... The inside of a fridge A refrigerator (often shortened to fridge) or freezer is an electrical appliance that uses refrigeration to help preserve food. ...

In 2004 more space was devoted to exhibiting works from the New Zealand art collection. 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Te Papa in fact consists of two buildings. In addition to the building on Cable Street, which is open to the public, there is also a storage building at the Basin Reserve end of Tory Street, where archives and the natural history collection are kept.

Trivia

• The site was previously occupied by a modern four-storey hotel. This was jacked off its foundations onto numerous rail bogies and transported 200 metres down and across the road to a new site, where it is now the Museum Hotel de Wheels.

• The museum's logo - a thumbprint - caused considerable controversy when it was publicised that its development had cost $300,000 - in reality the cost of the entire branding.

A logotype, commonly known as a logo, is the graphic element of a trademark or brand, which is set in a special typeface/font, or arranged in a particular, but legible, way. ...

External links

Te Papa — Museum of New Zealand