American Museum of Natural History takes us back in time
Having recently returned from New York City, the team has wrapped 6 of 8 shoots for Museum Secrets - Season 2, on History Television. This time we went to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) – The museum that was featured in the 2006 movie Night at the Museum, staring Ben Stiller.
Early on, at one of the first Museum Secrets production meetings when we discussed the AMNH, there was no question as to whether we wanted to explore some of this museum’s secrets for season 2.
The AMNH opened its doors to the public in 1877 in a Victorian Gothic building at 79th Street and Central Park. Today, the museum sees nearly 5 million visitors each year in its 25 interconnected buildings with 200 working scientists in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The museum has a world-renowned collection of more than 30 million specimens and artifacts, housed in 46 permanent exhibition halls!
Among the secrets we explore is a mystery surrounding who laid the first dinosaur eggs to ever be discovered. Then, we uncover how the bright and sunny version of Africa that we see in the Lion King owes its existence to a hall created at the AMNH in 1936. Finally, we search for the secret to an ancient civilization, the Incas, through some strange strings and their knots.
Museum Secrets Producer Stephen Milton tells us that the stories at the AMNH often took us outside of the museum and lead to lots of adventures. For example, we went from the Hall of Biodiversity at the AMNH to the shores of Queens New York, in order to interact with an ancient species, which holds a secret that is vital to its own survival (and to ours).
Take a look at our photo album below to see our team working on this episode:
