Paperskin – the art of tapa cloth is closing this weekend, on Sunday 12 September.  If you haven’t been to see these amazing tapa works, now is the time to come into Te Papa. It will also be your last chance for some time to see the 22 metre Tongan ngatu (tapa), made inRead more

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In: Pacific

On the weekend down in Canterbury, apart from the horrific earthquake, there was an extremely unusual dolphin stranding. A 1.8m male Hourglass dolphin came ashore at Flea Bay. Only a handful of complete specimens of this species have ever been dissected before. Although they are sometimes seen in the Southern OceanRead more

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In: Science
Why I love Christchurch, by Jireh of South New Brighton School

When I got to work this morning, this was waiting for me: A few weeks back, we asked pupils from some of the schools in New Zealand to send us a postcard telling them why they love their town for our Conservation Week display. This year the theme is WeRead more

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In: History
Riki Gooch, musician and producer, in the Paperskin exhibition

Music and museum exhibitions haven’t always gone together – all part of the old idea that a museum should be a solemn and silent place. Today, sound compositions in exhibitions are being used as part of the visitor experience. They offer a different way to approach the things on display – oneRead more

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In March 2009, Te Papa was gifted a small but significant collection of objects from Derek J. Wilson. This collection included two Tongan fangufangu or nose flutes that were made from bamboo. Historically, fangufangu were used to awaken the Tongan royalty from their sleep. The newly acquired fangufangu, have intactRead more

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On Tuesday 20 July 2010 Gus Fisher ONZM passed away at the age of 89. While many people today recognise Gus Fisher as one of the country’s most generous and enthusiastic arts patron Gus first rose to national prominence in the world of high fashion. Gus Fisher was the creativeRead more

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In: Art, History

Hello all!  Welcome to my first post here on the Te Papa Blog.  My name is Cindy Lee and I’m an intern working in the Object’s Conservation Lab at the Tory Street Conservation Laboratories.  This internship is a part of my degree requirements for  my Masters Degree in Archaeological andRead more

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Luke and Anton fish up the North Island in our Te Huka ā Tai Whānau Day | (c) Te Papa

On Wednesday, several children came to Te Huka ā Tai at Te Papa and fished up the Te Ika a Māui (the North Island).  And why not? After a long and lovely day soaking in some of the scariest, hairiest, chilling and thrilling myths and legends Aotearoa has produced, it justRead more

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In: Māori
Collections Online mapping

Mapping the collections This week we added a new feature to Collections Online, our first efforts to map our collection objects, specimens and other resources.  As you browse the collection, the Related Places section at the right of the page will generate a map of the places related to the collection itemRead more

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In: Art, Collections Online, Pacific

Paperskin – the art of tapa cloth exhibition is full of many wonderful tapa artworks.  But one Tongan tapa cloth (ngatu) in Te Papa’s collection is amazing because of its size – it is more than 22 metres long and over 4 metres wide. We have never been able to displayRead more

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Aptenodytes forsteri

Since we released the new version of Collections Online  in July last year we’ve made the odd fix, or a new feature here and there. You probably don’t notice them but hopefully they’ve made your browsing experience a bit easier.  However recently we’ve done a couple of things we thought wereRead more

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In: Collections Online