September 16, 2009

Great Mammal Hall at Harvard Museum of Natural History reopens

The Great Mammal Hall in the Harvard Museum of Natural History is restored and reopened.

From The November-December 2009 Issue

Photograph by Jim Harrison

The Great Mammal Hall, a two-story gallery 60 feet long by 40 wide, is the oldest and most dramatic in the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH). The hall was emptied of its taxonomic treasures as part of a renovation commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Museum of Comparative Zoology: the animals were removed and repaired and the display cases restored to their nineteenth-century colors, replacing a palette dating to the 1960s. The gallery reopened October 16. Above, a gaur noses into the stream of escapees during the renovation.

Published in the November-December 2009 print issue under the headline “A Gallery Glows Again,” in the John Harvard's Journal section.

Related topics

University News

You might also like

Podcasting is becoming one of the fastest-growing methods of sharing political discourse to wide audiences

Are Creators the Future of Democracy?

A Harvard panel considers how “parasocial relationships” might drive democratic engagement.

Loeb House surrounded by snow and greenery under a clear blue sky.

Harvard Board of Overseers Candidates Describe Priorities

Alumni will vote for the University governing board in April and May.

Dick Friedman, longstanding contributing editor to Harvard Magazine,

Five Questions with Dick Friedman

Harvard Magazine’s longstanding football editor reflects on his career in journalism.

Most popular

A crowd of people shout and march during a nighttime demonstration, while a man and woman in the foreground hold two silver-colored pans above their heads and bang on them with sticks

The Harvard Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

Students writing at desks on wheels, racing ahead of a stationary student at a fixed desk

Why Men Are Falling Behind in Education, Employment, and Health

Can new approaches to education address a growing gender gap?

Joseph Nye, former Dean of Harvard Kennedy School and leading political scientist

Mark Carney on the Limits of Soft Power

At the 2026 Davos summit, the Canadian prime minister echoes Harvard’s Joseph Nye.

Explore More From Current Issue

A football player kicking a ball while another teammate holds it on the field.

A Near-Perfect Football Season Ends in Disappointment

A loss to Villanova derails Harvard in the playoffs.

An axolotl with a pale body and pink frilly gills, looking directly at the viewer.

Regenerative Biology’s Baby Steps

What axolotl salamanders could teach us about limb regrowth

A silhouette of a person stands before glowing domes in a red, rocky landscape at sunset.

Getting to Mars (for Real)

Humans have been dreaming of living on the Red Planet for decades. Harvard researchers are on the case.