National Museum of Natural Sciences
The National Museum of Natural Sciences ( Japanese 国立 科学 博物館 , Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsukan ; official English name: Museum of Nature and Science , translation of the English translation of "Museum of Nature and Science") is one of the world's leading institutes for research into natural history and history of science and technology in Tokyo , Japan . It is operated by its own self-governing body ( dokuritsu gyōsei hōjin ) of the Ministry of Culture and Science .
The museum boasts the richest history of any museum in Japan and takes a leading role in the Japanese museum landscape. A first exhibition was set up in Yushima Seidō as early as 1871 . In January 1877 the first section of a museum building in Ueno Park was completed. This date is considered the official year of the museum's founding. On September 1, 1923, all museum facilities and exhibits were destroyed by the Great Kanto earthquake . A new museum building was completed by the end of 1930, and the opening ceremony took place on November 2nd of the following year in the presence of Showa-Tenno . Extensive renovation and restructuring work was completed in 2007, on the 130th anniversary of the establishment.
The Japan Gallery, which opened in April 2007, was designated as an important national cultural property in June 2008 . In addition to the main site in Ueno in Tokyo's Taitō district, the museum's facilities include the Institute for Nature Study , the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology , a branch in Hyakuninchō in the Shinjuku district and the Tsukuba Botanical Garden .
The collections contain more than 3.5 million individual items, including a collection on Japanese science from the pre- Meiji period .
Web links
- Site of the National Museum of Nature and Science (English)
- National Museum of Nature and Science at Google Cultural Institute
Coordinates: 35 ° 42 ′ 58.7 " N , 139 ° 46 ′ 35.6" E