Alert!

Auckland Museum is temporarily closed

Auckland Museum is closed until further notice, in step with our city’s efforts to limit the transmission of the COVID-19. Find out more.

Your Museum

Auckland Museum at Home

When you’re in need of an at-home Museum fix, experience some of the best parts of Tāmaki Paenga Hira here. Watch how volcanoes are made, write a poem for Auckland, make native birds come alive in a puzzle, deep dive into one of our blogs or discover some fun and educational activities to entertain the kids. Spend some time with us online today. Our collections are here for you to explore.

 

We regularly update this page with new videos, blog posts and children's activities, so keep coming back to see what’s new.

The Enduring Impact of the First World War
Research

The Bulletin

The Enduring Impact of the First World War

Each edition of the Bulletin of the Auckland Museum showcases a range of original research by our staff and other academics, pieces relating to items in the Museum's collection or, in the case of this edition, a major historical event. Co-edited by Associate Curator (History) Gail Romano with Prof Kingsley Baird (Massey University), this edition explores some of the legacies of 1917 – a remarkable single year during the First World War.

Read more

Decolonising and Indigenising Museums
Panel Discussion

Ngā Kākano

Decolonising and Indigenising Museums

The first public event in Te Ao Mārama, the new South Atrium, was Ngā Kākano: Decolonising and Indigenising Museums. Six distinguished speakers all brought valuable and unique perspectives on the night, generating thought-provoking discussion on the topic of representation, scholarship and where to next.

Watch the full discussion here

Beauty is in the eye of the purse-holder
GOOGLE ARTS & CULTURE

Beauty is in the eye of the purse-holder

The protruding claws may not scream elegance at first, but this purse crafted from the foot of an albatross is part of a long history of pouches and bags fashioned from seabirds. Take a Google Arts & Culture audio tour of this peculiar purse and learn how such a curious object came into being.

Listen Now

New Zealand at war

New Zealand at war

Read about a selection of objects in the Museum's collection that tell just a few of the tales of heroism from those who served and those who supported them. 
Conservation Week 2020

Conservation Week 2020

Learn about the work our scientists are doing to bring endangered shag populations back from the brink, sit down with an online jigsaw, get the kids to help our scientists identify creatures big and small, or read up on how people power made Tiritiri Matangi so successful. 
Pen a poem to Auckland

Pen a poem to Auckland

How would you describe your favourite place in Tāmaki Makaurau? Is it something about the light or the sound of water? Or do you love it because of something that happened there? We invite people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in our community-generated Tāmaki Poems project, by writing poems about specific parts of Auckland to share to our platform, where they can be enjoyed by others.
Out of office

Out of office

The initial Level 4 Covid-19 Lockdown took the entire country by surprise, but as Auckland re-entered a Level 3 situation, the Museum teams were ready for business-not-as-usual. Read about some of the mahi Museum staff did behind closed doors to look after both the collections and each other.
For the kids

For the kids

Boredom busters for inquisitive minds! Have a go at our interactive games, download activities to do offline and watch fun and educational videos made just for kids.

ready, set, go!

Piece by piece

Piece by piece

Take a closer look at some of our collection objects by doing one (or several!) of our jigsaw puzzles. You can adjust the difficulty of each puzzles to suit the puzzler, so they suit any age, skill level, or time contraint.

Choose your puzzle

   

Latest jigsaw puzzles

Rosey-faced lovebird

Rosey-faced lovebird

Agapornis roseicollis, AWMM LB8205
Ornithoptera priamus euphorion

Ornithoptera priamus euphorion

AMNZ100288
Australasian shoveler

Australasian shoveler

Anas rhynchotis, LB13903
Callanthias splendens

Callanthias splendens

by L.T. Griffin, AWMM PD-1971-5-35, 71/5

The Story of Te Awe


Te Awe was a project about enriching, reorganising, and improving the care of our 10,000+ taonga Māori in a way that is embedded in Mātauranga Māori. Through this mahi Auckland Museum made the taonga Māori collection more visible and accessible to iwi, hāpu, whānau, Museum staff, researchers, and the public. 

Learn more about the project and watch all four episodes here.

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Explore how Tāmaki Paenga Hira celebrated te Reo Māori online and in our collections.
Lives aquatic

Lives aquatic

Explore the world that lies beneath the surface of the water through the work of some of our researchers. Watch a squid dissection, discover the sunfish, meet a baby shark and test your knowledge with our marine life quiz.
Pacific Language Weeks

Pacific Language Weeks

We are working closely with New Zealand’s Pacific communities to maintain and promote heritage language.
Explore our collections online

Explore our collections online

Many of our incredible Human History, Natural Sciences and Documentary Heritage objects can be viewed and explored online. View a Crown Lynn online exhibition, visit our Museum virtually or get inspired with the many ways you can use images of our objects at home.
Take a virtual tour

Take a virtual tour

We've opened up our exhibition archives for you to explore. Travel through time and space as you virutally walk through our archive of historic exhibitions.

Come on in

Things to watch

Explore Te Ao Mārama, your new South Atrium
VIDEO PLAYLIST

Explore Te Ao Mārama, your new South Atrium

The doors are now open to Te Ao Mārama. Explore the new space, meet the artists who crafted our new artworks, and learn about how tikanga works in the space.
Volcanoes of Auckland
VIDEO PLAYLIST

Volcanoes of Auckland

A collation of volcano videos Auckland Museum has made over the years, including some featured in our Volcanoes gallery.
Time Travellers
VIDEO PLAYLIST

Time Travellers

Time Travellers: Kids stories from when the HMB Endeavour arrived in Aoteaoroa New Zealand in 1769.
Cool Jobs
VIDEO PLAYLIST

Cool Jobs

Check out some of the amazing activities Auckland Museum staff get up to every day with this playlist!
Volcanoes of Auckland
VIDEO PLAYLIST

Volcanoes of Auckland

A collation of volcano videos Auckland Museum has made over the years, including some featured in our Volcanoes gallery.
Want to read more?

Want to read more?

Whether you're after a fast fact or a deep dive, we've collected stories, blogs and short reads from all around the Museum's collections and gathered them here. 

Read much, much more

Dish, Iznik, Turkey, 16th Century, Ceramic, polychrome paint under transparent glaze. Collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira K1850.