Canterbury Museum, Christchurch
The Canterbury Museum is a museum located in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. It is home to internationally acclaimed exhibitions about Antarctica, contemporary costumes, the New Zealand avifauna (including extinct species ), insects, the history of the conflicts between Maori and Europeans in the region of Canterbury, the decorative arts from Asia and the natural history of Canterbury. There is also a document center, can be operated in the research on the families of Canterbury.
History
In December 1867, the exhibition pieces by Julius von Haast in the Provincial Council Building were made available to the public. Since the exhibition space for large collection of Haasts not enough, there was a public appeal for funds for the financing of a museum. The rest of the money was deposited by a grant from the state government. As a place for the construction of the new building the opposite side of the Botanical Garden was chosen. 1869, the architect Benjamin Mountfort was commissioned to design the museum, which was completed in 1882. 1870, the first section of the building was opened, which consisted of a single room with dimensions of 21.3 m × 10.6 m. The tour was supported by Kauriholzsäulen. The façade was built of gray basalt from the quarry Halswell. In the following years the museum has been significantly changed. 1872 was a two-story wing in the Victorian Gothic style. 1876 a major addition was completed, the faces of today's Rolleston Avenue. 1882 was followed by the roofing of the courtyard. More restorations there was again only in 1958, when the the Rolleston Avenue facing facade expanded and a new wing next to the Christ's College was built. In 1977 a further extension by HRH Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, officially opened and named below in honor of Roger Duff, director of the Museum 1948-1978, Roger Duff wings. This wing houses the Antarctic exhibition of the museum.
Between 1987 and 1995, the museum was gradually expanded, renovated and refurbished to meet the earthquake standards. A four-story tract in which there is a Ausstellungshof for short and traveling exhibitions, in 1995, opened the 125th anniversary of the museum.
Today, almost two million exhibits are kept in the museum.