Canterbury Museum
Gothic Revival natural-history museum founded on moa bones, now closed for a major rebuild.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Canterbury Museum in Christchurch goes back to a March day in eighteen seventy-one, when the museum's taxidermist, Frederick Fuller, was digging through an old marsh on the Glenmark estate among heaps of moa bones. It brings in the museum's founder, the German geologist Julius von Haast, and the trade in swamp skeletons that grew his collection. Best heard standing in front of the Gothic stone facade.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Rutherford's Den
Basement science museum in the cloakroom where a future Nobel physicist ran his first experiments.
Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings (Bellamy's and the Timber Chamber)
Gothic Revival timber council chamber and Victorian refreshment rooms from a colonial provincial government.
ChristChurch Cathedral
Quake-shattered Gothic Revival Anglican cathedral on the central square, now being rebuilt in stages.
Governors Bay
Sheltered harbourside village beneath the Port Hills, with a historic stone homestead and garden.
Ōruapaeroa Travis Wetland Nature Heritage Park
Restored freshwater wetland on a former dairy farm, laced with boardwalks and bird hides.
Diamond Harbour
Quiet harbourside settlement across the water from the port, reached by a short passenger ferry.