MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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If you are a visitor to Milwaukee and enjoy museums, a visit to the Milwaukee Public Museum should not be overlooked. Considered one of the best natural history museums in the United States, the museum houses more than six million objects.

The museum’s Humphrey Imax Dome Theatre offers various educational motion pictures in large format cinematography that conveys a “you are there” feeling to audiences.

The collaboration of the museum with the Milwaukee Archdiocese has resulted in an “on loan” exhibition of various objects of historical and artistic content from the permanent collections of the Vatican Museums – many publicly displayed for the first time.

The exhibition’s objects span the history of the Roman Catholic Church and include paintings, sculptures and many other priceless artifacts. The Mandylion of Edessa, which is an image on linen considered to be the oldest know representation of Jesus, is estimated to have been created between the Third and Fifth Centuries.

The museum began amassing its huge collection in 1881. Permanent exhibits are located on three and one-half floors. Space is set aside for traveling and temporary exhibitions.

One hundred fifty thousand square feet of space is dedicated to Africa, Asia, Europe, the Arctic, South and Middle America, the Pacific Islands and the Trimbina Rainforest of Costa Rica.

Old Milwaukee is represented in a turn-of-the century display and the prehistoric world is partially recreated with a life-sized replica of Tyrannosaurus Rex and the world’s largest-known real dinosaur skull.

Visitors will enjoy strolling amidst live free-flying butterflies in the Puelicher Butterfly Wing. Countless displays of preserved animal and insect life showcase the infinite life forms that share our planet.

Plant life is not overlooked and the museum’s extensive botanical collections, both living and preserved, are used for purposes of exhibition, study and education. Live plants are kept in the museum greenhouse which is located on the roof of the building.

Conveniently located in Downtown Milwaukee just minutes from the Interstate, the Milwaukee Public Museum, which is one of the largest of its kind in the United States, is open Monday thru Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm and Sunday from noon to 5 pm. The museum is closed to the public only three times a year: on the 4th of July, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Admission charges are:

• $9 for adults ages 16 to 61.
• $8 for seniors ages 62+.
• $5 for children ages 3 to 15.
• Children age 2 and under are admitted free.
• Museum members with member’s card are admitted free.
• Reduced fees for groups with advanced registration.
• Mondays are free to all Milwaukee County residents with proper identification.