Science on Display

Credit: Nolan Zunk

After more than a year of renovations and needed revitalization, Austin’s only science and natural history museum reopens in the fall of 2023. To go with its facelift, Texas Memorial Museum also got itself a new name: Texas Science and Natural History Museum.

“This place is an historic hidden gem,” said Carolyn Connerat, museum managing director. “The closure was a chance to polish this gem until it shines again and create an unforgettable visitor experience.”

The museum features new and expanded exhibits that tell the story of life in the natural world. Old favorites – such as the Quetzalcoatlus, the giant pterosaur with a 33-foot wingspan that hangs in the Great Hall – remain, joined by new exhibits about life in the Cretaceous age. Beloved collections of fossils and of Texas wildlife join new science exhibits, with more planned for future visitors to enjoy.

A new pollinator garden greets visitors to the newly renamed campus museum.

Floor-to-ceiling cleaning over the last year took place in the grand hall where Quetzalcoatlus is on display.

The original art deco windows have been cleaned and carefully restored.

Texas Science & Natural History Museum (previously Texas Memorial Museum) celebrates reopening.

The tyrannosaur is a new addition to the museum. The display was created based on a maxilla of a tyrannosaur found by UT researchers in West Texas.

A modern Longhorn skull (right) beside the cast replica of a fossilized skull of an ancient bison (left) that once lived in Texas. These are part of the new Texas Transformation exhibit.