Museum of Canterbury


The city of Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand is known for many interesting and noteworthy attractions, including the Botanical Garden , which in turn attracts tourists' attention not only by the variety of plants of incredible beauty, but also by the Canterbury Museum in its eastern part. So, the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch invites its visitors to plunge into the world of New Zealand history and learn about how the Maori lived - representatives of the indigenous New Zealand population.

From the history of the museum

The building of the museum in the past was built by Benjamin Mountfort - a rich, nobleman who owns a unique collection that includes materials related to the colonial period, as well as a collection in which items made of wood were collected. All these exhibits can still be seen today in Canterbury museums, as well as items from the collection of geologist Julia Haast, who became the first director and the main museum collector, famous for his research on the South Island. Many items from his collection of fossils Haast used to exchange between other museums. So he managed to collect the exposition that has survived to this day.

Tour of the Canterbury Museum

The exact address of the Canterbury Museum is Rolleston Ave, Christchurch 8013. Having come here, the attention of tourists is attracted by a huge number of important, from the point of view of New Zealand history, exhibits. The museum has several rooms open, which are recommended to be examined in the following sequence:

  1. Gallery Maori , where in addition to historical exhibits are also collected unique items made of jade.
  2. Antarctic Hall with a unique collection of fishing boats and supplies. It is interesting that even a small boat has been preserved here, on which the fishermen were rescued after the shipwreck, which happened in the vicinity of the Disappointing Island in the distant 1907.
  3. Hall, which presents a collection that tells about the life of birds in the Pacific and far beyond its borders . Scarecrow of the Imperial penguin presented here, as a rule, always causes tourists a real delight.
  4. Interactive collection "Discovery" , created especially for the young visitors of the museum, in a simple, clear and accessible form tells the children about the museum exhibits.

And although the building of the museum may seem quite small, the impression is more deceptive, since 4 floors are waiting inside the tourists with spacious halls containing interesting collections and amazing exhibits. Thus, every tourist here has the opportunity to spend several fascinating hours and learn many facts from the history of New Zealand , plunging into the world of the past.

It is worth noting and the successful location of the museum, from which at a distance of only 300-500 meters are cozy restaurants with excellent cuisine, where you can refresh yourself after a busy museum day. This is the restaurant of Greek cuisine Dimitris Greek Food, and the restaurant with European dishes Fiddlesticks Restaurant & Bar, and the well-known in Christchurch fast food restaurant Cook'n 'With Gas and many other excellent institutions.