Science Museum Of Minnesota

Tut exhibit, just say no. I really like museums, but this one was really disappointing, especially considering the cost ($31 per person for museum admission, the Tut exhibit and the Omnimax movie). The King Tut exhibit was especially disappointing. On the advertisement brochure, you see the large golden mask, which is identified with King Tut. You will never see that mask in the museum, just on photos.

The exhibit starts in a large empty room, which is supposed to look like the entry to a tomb or something. You get to hear a short narrative by Harrison Ford about Egypt. Then, you enter the exhibit itself.

The exhibit is largely a collection of statues of various pharaohs or their queens. There are also a number of jars made of various materials, which were used to hold oils or embalmed body parts.

There are also pieces of furniture, like a wooden bed. There were some other things (necklaces, a diadem), but not really anything memorable. They did have a replica of his mummy, which was made by stereolithography. In other words, the mummy was made by a computer, of plastic. But someone did a pretty good job painting it.

Members of the museum get significant discounts, but members of associated museums only get $4 off, so a membership in ASTC doesn't have much value.

The Omnimax movie was also disappointing. They explain that the mummification process was kept a secret, and not well documented. After a lot of research, an Egyptologist thought he understood it, and so mummified a real person recently, in order to understand how to possibly extract DNA from mummies. They learned that the most reliable place to extract DNA from was the bones, so that is where they extracted DNA material from Tutankhamen. They figured out who his parents were. They hope that this may also help them find a cure for malaria, as King Tut had malaria.

Yeah, didn't make much sense when I heard it during the movie either.

For $31 per person for museum admission, the Tut exhibit and the omnimax movie, it was not worth it. I felt a little bad for people who brought kids to see this thing, it had to be even more disappointing to them.

I think you'd be just as well off to buy a DVD of Tut's stuff, which would be cheaper, and you'd get to see more.…

Dazzling riverfront digs house an omnitheater, exhibits and a hands-on museum.. In Short
This large riverfront building puts everything in the open, making for a spacious and bright setting. From a street-level entrance on Kellogg Boulevard, visitors descend through five levels of exhibits, plus a 415-seat Omnitheater, a 3-D laser show, classrooms--and 15 sets of restrooms. Inside, adults and children are entertained by a world-class display of fossils and dinosaurs, miscellaneous collections, plus interactive exhibits about the human body, the Mississippi River and other natural wonders.…

WOW. Great stop, even for the "science for dumdies". the museum ofers many great exhibits, you can spend all day here and never get the full experiance. A great stop for kids, lots of interaction stations, great science shows. A must see in the Twin Cities.…