The Natural History Museum of Utah
Perhaps too little known for its scientific prowess is the western metropolis of Salt Lake City, Utah, known only to New Yorkers as a deserted wasteland by an unfishable lake, populated by cheery tie-wearing Mormons as depicted by the creators of South Park. However, I find it out of order, and believe we’ve underestimated our mountain-dwelling brothers at least in terms of their ability to, in layman’s terms, clean up good.
In the hills above Utah’s capital, at the copper-plated Rio Tinto Center at the University of Utah, lies the Natural History Museum of Utah, an architecturally and intellectually beautiful learning experience composed of consolidated exhibitions from around the University. Focusing on Utah’s natural beauty specifically, as well as the place of humans within it, the museum has five levels, each going into a specific aspect of the west’s natural beauty. The NHMU suggests you begin at the top floor, Sky, and make your way down to the main entry hall, where odd outcroppings and a plunging design are meant to make you feel like you’re at the bottom of a canyon, looking up at the curling bridges and open skylights above. In the daylight I’m sure it would be just as beautiful as the night, looking out over the main floor terrace to the skyline of the city ahead and back to the gently sloping mountains behind.
At NHMU, professionalism is key. Practically every prehistoric bone is just as real as you or me and meticulously arranged by top archeologists who barely have to travel from their digs to the museum, and frankly it’s impressive the beasts the mesas of the Great Basin have to offer. Triceratops with heads that fill forty-foot walls, alligators the size of semi trucks, giant sloths that rear in ready attack position, and even bones from the famous Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, a paleontologist’s mystery where bones were scattered beneath the muck like utensils in a drawer. Evidently no one knows quite how they got there or even how the monsters died, but that doesn’t stop the experts at the museum from putting one foot in front of the other to get the beasts built to their former glory and to let them sit silently and regally in their new, quiet homes.
Modern animals, too, have their place here. After the suffering and heritage of the Native Americans of the Ute region on the Sky floor comes the other natives of this land, among them antelope, cougars, and tarantulas, one of which makes its home beneath a glass dome on a table the observer can freely approach. Masterful taxidermy lines the walls and display cases, giving the visitor a close-up view of the wildlife of the area as if in their natural habitat. There’s even a massive working ant farm, glowing white and spotted with hardworking red ants scurrying to and fro, not unlike, it seems, the staff and administrators of the museum, which just received its new name and location in fall of 2011. And there’s so much more to see, too much even to list.
There’s not much to complain about at NHMU. It’s interesting, it’s thorough, it’s detailed enough for a long day’s visit, and it’s a beautiful space. It rivals the museums of New York just due to what’s available to see, and it’s considerably cheaper. What’s more, it just underwent a pretty extensive makeover to get to where it is today. I’d say the work has paid off. I guarantee that if you’re already making the trip out to Utah, if you live there, or if you’re interested in some SLC culture, the Natural History Museum of Utah will not leave you disappointed.
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