This Sunday, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., will close its Fossil Hall for a four-year, $48-million renovation.
The renovation project is expected to be complete in 2019. Until the hall reopens, visitors will be able to view the Smithsonian’s newest addition to its collection of more than 46 million fossils: the “Nation’s T. rex.” The new Tyrannosaurus Rex replaces the former T-rex replica, so visitors will now be able to see the real thing. Nation’s T. rex is on loan from its former badlands home and will be displayed in the new “Rex Room.” Visitors over the next five years will get to watch Smithsonian staff unpack and piece the 66-million-year-old T-rex fossils together.
This weekend, the museum will be hosting a celebration of events before the hall closes. More fossils from the closed hall will be displayed throughout other exhibits until the new hall reopens.
–Lissa Poirot
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