Exhibitions

To ensure an enjoyable and safe experience for all, The Discovery Zone is temporarily closed. 

The Discovery Zone—made possible by Kaiser Permanente—is bursting with activities that help build a strong foundation of science skills in young children as they look, ask, discover, make, and share.

Exhibits, activities, and programs focus on science process skills, such as observing, quantifying, inquiring, analyzing, creating, and communicating. Children can "excavate" fossils, manipulate and observe water in action, experiment with building methods and materials, and conduct investigations and create art projects. 

A team of Egyptologists and other specialists from around the country collaborated with Michele Koons, curator of archaeology, to find out how today’s leading technologies could shed more light on the lives and deaths of two female mummies on display in the Egyptian Mummies gallery.

The results are in! Findings from CT scans, radiocarbon dating, isotope analysis, and other tests show that the mummies’ distinctions are less likely based on their economic status, as previously thought, and more on when they lived during the history of Egyptian mummification. 

The Genetics Lab, located inside Expedition Health ®, is where Museum scientists, community scientists, students, and collaborators conduct original research across the spectrum of life. Because the lab is visible to the public, Museum guests can observe daily activities that occur in a modern genetics laboratory—pipetting liquids, extracting and quantifying DNA, performing PCR experiments, running gel electrophoresis, analyzing data, writing grants and papers, and collaborating.

Grab your hard hat! In Coors Gems and Minerals Hall, follow the mine shaft into a Mexican silver mine, where a cavern glistens with milky white gypsum crystals and stalactites. Then enter Colorado's own Sweet Home Mine to discover a six-foot wall of beautiful red rhodochrosite crystals.

Colorado was founded on mining, so you'll see more local finds, like Tom's Baby, an eight-pound nugget of crystallized gold unearthed in Breckenridge in 1887.

You'll also be dazzled by the largest known pocket of aquamarine ever discovered, from Colorado's own Mount Antero, and a giant Brazilian topaz once owned by artist Salvador Dali. The hall is packed with hundreds of specimens from around the world. Hands-on activities and videos help young explorers learn about mineral characteristics and how minerals form.

See the only collection of the remarkable Vasily Konovalenko gem sculptures on public display outside of Moscow.

Vasily Konovalenko (koh-noh-vuh-len-koh) was born in 1929 in Petrivka, Ukraine (just north of the Black Sea). After earning a degree in art and architecture, he became a stage designer for the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. He worked on productions of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and other classic operas and ballets.  In 1957, while working at the Mariinka Theatre in St. Petersburg, Konovalenko produced sets for the ballet Stone Flower, in which the protagonist is a stonecutter. Konovalenko's gem carvings for the ballet earned rave reviews, and he became smitten with the art form.

Shelter. Food. Clothing. Tools. Experience the incredible diversity among Native American groups and the practicality and artistry of their everyday objects.

We are all different, we are all the same is the thread running through this exhibition hall. Shelter, food, clothing, transportation, tools-all are basic human needs satisfied in different ways by different cultures. Among North America's native peoples, the rich diversity in traditional and modern lifeways reflects the distinctive regional influences of environment and materials.

As you travel through the various regions you can explore authentic reconstructed dwellings, including an Inuit snow house, a Northwest Coast clan house, a Navajo hogan, and a Cheyenne tipi. Along the way, examine beautifully crafted weavings, basketry, beadwork, and pottery. Stop to listen to stories and watch videos on the major cultural groups.

A journey through the eons allows you to trace the evolution of life on Earth, from single-celled organisms to lumbering dinosaurs to the inhabitants of today's world.

Travel through time-starting 3.5 billion years ago. Your journey begins beneath ancient seas. Life diversifies as you move through the millennia, surrounded by fearsome fish and waving sea lilies. Soon you're out of the water and the air is filled with huge dragonflies. Foot-long centipedes crawl around you. Then the dinosaurs appear!

Plans are moving along to transform Space Odyssey into an all-new experience. We have closed the gallery for construction and are planning a grand reopening in mid-November 2020.  

To ensure an enjoyable and safe experience for all, the VR Arcade is temporarily closed. 

Come on in, jump on board, and have some fun in VR Arcade. The pop-up experience uses virtual reality technology that lets you explore wherever your curiosity leads. VR Arcade features six bays for individual VR opportunities and a four-person Virtual Reality Transporter ride.

Animals big and small come to life in exquisitely detailed dioramas that transport you around the world.

From Alaska to Argentina, Africa to Australia, more than 90 wildlife and habitat scenes illustrate our planet's amazing diversity. Like three-dimensional "postcards" from places near and far, they capture moments in time, showcasing the world's wondrous animals and the delicate ecosystems in which they live.

Opens June 24, 2020 for members

Opens June 25, 2020 for general public

A dated and timed Museum admission ticket as well as a timed The Art of the Brick ticket is required to see this exhibition. Please add both to your cart before checking out.

Renowned contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya has taken LEGO® bricks from beloved toys to artistic marvels. Sawaya’s original artworks and his reimagined versions of famous masterpieces from art and culture, such as Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and the Venus de Milo will wow guests. The experience also showcases a collection of LEGO-infused hyper-realistic photography from Sawaya’s innovative collaboration with award-winning photographer Dean West. From fan favorite Yellow, a life-size sculpture of a man with thousands of yellow LEGO bricks cascading from his chest, to a T. rex skeleton made out of 80,000 LEGO bricks, guests will be inspired by how the power of imagination and creativity can build endless possibilities.

As the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt by all of us in so many ways, the Museum and LEGO brick artist Nathan Sawaya are supporting our communities by offering The Art of the Brick free with general admission through Labor Day.  

A newly discovered trove of remarkably preserved fossils, found at Corral Bluffs near Colorado Springs, has brought into sharp focus how Earth recovered after the devastating asteroid impact 66 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs. This discovery is a watershed scientific moment, and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science has created a brand-new bilingual exhibit to bring the discovery to life. 

Opens March 12, 2021

Explore where, when, why, and perhaps most intriguing, how Stonehenge was built in Stonehenge: Ancient Mysteries and Modern Discoveries.