Houston Museum of Natural Science

5555 Hermann Park Dr, Houston, TX 77030, USA

Address:	5555 Hermann Park Dr, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Phone:	+1 713-639-4629
Site:	hmns.org
Rating:	4.7
Working:	9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM

Location

Photos 1

Reviews 5

Grace Brielle

We only had 3 hours in the museum, since the free parking across the street had a 3 hour limit, so we mainly sped by every exhibit the museum had, more looking than anything, but stopping to read and take pictures for the ones that were really interesting. I think if you really want to enjoy the museum to the full extent by having time to read exhibit info more, you would need an extra hour or two. Review is only for the permanent exhibits. There were some great exhibits like the Dinosaur, Egyptian, Gemstones, and the Russian royalty artifacts. The average ones were the animal taxidermy of Texas and around the world, as well as the Native American/South American exhibit (even though I really love Native culture and will mention what was wrong with the exhibit at the end). There were also some that were incredibly underwhelming and/or too short which were the sea shell collection, the the Vanishing Art display and the Mapping Texas display in the main floor, the penguin exhibit, the cabinet of curiosity (is geared for children but is aesthetically pleasing), the chemistry exhibit, the space area which was just a fairly small room that was closed but didnt have any interesting things there anyway. The Native/South American exhibit was extremely dim and the lights cast on the artifacts were often also very weak so you had to get in real close to the artifact descriptions to read them. Also, in that exhibit there were many artifacts that were unnumbered so you had to skim all the artifact descriptions in the case to see which matched the item you were looking at the best. In the gem exhibit many of the gems lacked name identification and/or sometimes it wasnt clear which name belonged to which stone. The museum itself was very clean and the bathrooms were clean which was great, but with admission prices of $25 per person, it should be clean. Considering all the sub par exhibits were far more numerous than the decent and great exhibits, the ticket price should be at least $10 less.

Patricia Gibson-Williams

What an amazing place to spend the day. Or a lot of days. My son takes classes here once a month and they are always interesting and informative. This is his 3rd year. After the classes are over (or between them if there is a gap) we enjoy the museum and its exhibits. I havent been to a single one that wasnt fascinating. From the permanent exhibits to the ones that come and go, we have enjoyed them all. My son is 8 now and very seldom has he not found things that he wasnt interested in. Last year the egyptian exhibit was a little too scary for him once we got to the mummies. This year was less spooked and happy to look at them for a bit. Might have helped that he had a friend. The Butterfly Exhibit is always full of those magical creatures and I never want to leave. We also enjoyed the Texas Exhibit, the African Wildlife, and Hall of the Americas. Oh and the stunning gems and minerals in that hall. Perhaps one of most exciting things for us was finding a full glyptodont fossil in the Hall of Paleontology after we had found a glyptodont scoot while fossil hunting in the Peace River in FL Last week we saw the Movie Dinosaurs Alive and visited (Out of) the Amazon. Shrunken heads "horrified" us while the feathered headdresses, jewelry and tools had us discussing life in far away places and distant times. If you live close enough Im sure that a membership would be a great deal. If my son wasnt taking the classes I would have splurged for one by now, but since its over an hours drive for us I try to cram everything I can into our once a month excursions. We usually bring lunch and enjoy it in the park across the street, but they have a McDonalds in the lobby and restaurants within walking distance if you arent in the mood to bring something with you. Night at the Museum was wonderful, but be sure that you dont overlook the wonder of a "Day at the Museum"

Anthony M

The content of the museum is spectacular. One issue that is idiotic for a museum is that they ignore the Paleocene in the paleontology hall! 11 million years of Earth history (66ma - 55ma) are not accounted for or exhibited; they just skip from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. Terrible! There is no excuse for skipping a time period marked by significant fossils, and heavily studied for understanding of events in Earth History! Many exhibits in the museum had incomplete or non existent labels. This was most frustrating in the mineral exhibits. These mineral specimens rival or best those displayed in the Smithsonian. But without labels to over 50% of the exhibited samples, even experienced Geologists were left guessing the ID of the mineral. Where there were labels, often they specimens werent numbered, so again, it is left to individual knowledge rather than educating the public. In addition, every exhibit suffers from poor lighting, obscuring features of fossils (bad in the paleontology hall). In many cases this poor lighting prevents legibility of the displays (egregious in all displays on the 3rd level, such as Egypt and the Native American exhibits). This museum has spectacular material. However, the lighting is so distracting that it becomes a constant point of frustration. They could easily double the light intensity and not loose the effect of "focus on the exhibits." Other museums of the world dont have this problem, and it is vexing to see such interesting material not visible. Overall, this museum feels like it stopped caring by the time it put the scientific materials on display. As a scientist, it was disappointing to feel like the curators didnt care enough about their exhibits. The total guest experience made me pine for other large city museums and overall, I left with a feeling of disappointment.

Nøkkenbuer

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is an amazing place where you can learn about dinosaurs, see fossils from over four billion years ago, learn more about our universe and how it works, and examine beautiful rocks and minerals! Thats not what its all about, though; there are also a number of exhibits offered for a limited time, such as the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic exhibit and the Terracotta Warriors themselves! Every few months, a new exhibit is offered or announced and many times, they are not necessarily about Natural Science—they are ALWAYS interesting, though! Admission fees are comparatively low and membership offers are great for those who love museums. The staff is friendly and the security on-duty is usually quite alert. Unfortunately, there is only one place to eat available at the Museum: McDonalds. Other than that, its a great place overall and the educational videos and documentaries at the Wortham IMAX Theater are fun to watch! I highly recommend this place for anyone interested in learning some history and science while having fun at the same time. Lastly, theres something I noticed: oil and non-renewable fuels are highly propagated at the exhibit and seems to be the main attraction. While this is understandable considering how Texas is well-known for oil and its a strong Republican state, there is unfortunately virtually nothing about climate change or similar issues. This may be due in part to the comparatively new information and fields involved in climate change research, but I fear another inhibition is politically-oriented. This is something to note for anyone interested. Nonetheless, the HMNS is a great place to go and the information given is quite accurate.

Mickey Maus

The exhibits exceeded my expectations. I went twice as a kid and didnt recall things being so nice. The fossils exhibit was great, but unfortunately the crowds of people can spoil the moment. I cringed as parents enthusiastically pretended to be interested as they spoke to there attention deficit children. "Oh look, a raptor. Do you see it? The raptor?" Yes, we all hear you. Nice parenting.... The real shame here is that despite the Egyptian exhibit blowing me away, the average group spends just 5 seconds and moves along, which means if you choose to read the descriptions, think about the civilizations and dates of the artifacts, and to study the artistry, then you are being jostled by about 3-4 groups who all seem to think that you are at the most interested display in the entire museum. Yes, you can smell their body odors and hear their nose whistling. There was two pre-teen girls club dancing in the gift shop and I thought to myself that you would have guessed this was a six flags theme park and not the museum. My feet got tired and my patience wore thin before I even got to enjoy a fraction of what this museum has to offer. Perhaps now that summer break is over, I could revisit during a school day when the parents cant bring the riffraff along for culture training.