Auckland War Memorial Museum

Auckland War Memorial Museum
Tāmaki Paenga Hira[a]
Large neoclassical-style building with a forecourt featuring a Cenotaph on a Court of Honour. Above the front porch of the building is inscribed a funeral oration attributed to the Greek General Pericles, which reads "MCMXIV – MCMXVIII / The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men / They are commemorated not only by columns and inscriptions in their own country / but in foreign lands also; by memorials graven not on stone / but on the hearts of men." A New Zealand flag atop the building is flown at half-mast. Banners hanging between the columns advertise exhibitions about volcanoes, and Charles Darwin.
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Map
Former name
Established25 October 1852; 172 years ago (1852-10-25)
Coordinates36°51′37″S 174°46′40″E / 36.86028°S 174.77778°E / -36.86028; 174.77778
TypeEncyclopaedic / Universal
Key holdings
Collection size4.5 million objects[7]
Visitors859,779 (FY 2016–17)[8]
DirectorDavid Reeves
ChairpersonRichard Bedford[9]
Public transit accessParnell railway station, Grafton railway station
Nearest parkingMuseum Carpark and Auckland Domain
Designated6-June-1985
Reference no.94

The Auckland War Memorial Museum (Māori: Tāmaki Paenga Hira), also known as Auckland Museum, is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, stands on Observatory Hill,[10] the remains of a dormant volcano, in the Auckland Domain, near Auckland CBD. Museum collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckland Region), natural history, and military history.

Auckland Museum's collections and exhibits began in 1852. In 1867 Aucklanders formed a learned society—the Auckland Philosophical Society, soon renamed Auckland Institute.[11] Within a few years Auckland Museum was transferred to Auckland Institute, thereafter known as Auckland Institute and Museum until 1996.[12] Auckland War Memorial Museum was the name of the new building opened in 1929, but since 1996 it has been more commonly used for the institution as well. From 1991 to 2003 the Museum's Māori name was Te Papa Whakahiku.[13][14]

  1. ^ a b "Frequently asked questions". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  2. ^ Kāwharu, Hugh (2001). Land and Identity In Tāmaki: a Ngāti Whātua Perspective (PDF) (Speech). Hillary Lecture. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland War Memorial Museum. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Hotunui, Whare Runanga". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  4. ^ "Te Toki a Tapiri, waka taua". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  5. ^ "Sir Edmund Hillary Archive". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  6. ^ Furey, Louise (2 October 2015). "Tairua trolling lure". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018. Auckland Museum has in the collection a unique tangible link between Māori and the East Polynesian homeland. A fishing lure made from tropical black-lipped pearl shell (Pinctada margaritifera) was found in a 1964 archaeological excavation at Tairua on the Coromandel Peninsula. The lure is highly significant because it was made in East Polynesia and brought here, on a waka, with the Polynesian settlers of Aotearoa. […] Despite over 60 years of professional archaeological excavations in New Zealand, the pearl shell lure is the only object from Polynesia to have been found in situ in an excavation.
  7. ^ Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira Five-Year Strategic Plan (Report). Auckland War Memorial Museum. 2017. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018. As kaitiaki (guardians), responsible for caring for more than 4.5 million treasures, we hold the 'DNA' of Auckland.
  8. ^ Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (2017), Curiosity Lives Here: Annual Report 2016–2017, Auckland Museum Annual Reports, p. 3, Wikidata Q115692620
  9. ^ "Auckland Museum Trust Board". Auckland Museum. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Site of the Museum". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. 55, no. 16784. 26 February 1918. p. 6. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  11. ^ Powell, A. W. B.; Brooker, S.G.; Troup, C.O.; Turbott, E. G. (January 1967), Powell, A. W. B. (ed.), The Centennial History of the Auckland Institute and Museum (PDF), Auckland Institute and Museum, OCLC 2436497, S2CID 160389298, Wikidata Q115613084
  12. ^ Auckland War Memorial Museum (30 May 1997), Auckland Museum Annual Report, 1996–1997, Auckland Museum Annual Reports, p. 2, OCLC 41236897, Wikidata Q115692436
  13. ^ Auckland Institute and Museum (25 November 1991), Auckland Institute and Museum Annual Report, 1990–1991, Auckland Museum Annual Reports, pp. 11–12, Wikidata Q115692466
  14. ^ Auckland War Memorial Museum (30 May 2004), Auckland War Memorial Museum Annual Report, 2003/2004, Auckland Museum Annual Reports, pp. 7–8, Wikidata Q115692522


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