Nov 15, 2007 6:22 pm US/Eastern
The Dinosaurs Are Coming To Carnegie Museum
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
From kids' books to feature films dinosaurs have captured the imaginations of generations
So this is big: The Carnegie Museum's long awaited "Dinosaurs In Their Time" is opening next week.
It's most likely to be the hottest ticket in town and this is just phase one and you will need a ticket to see the dinosaurs in their new digs.
Most of the free-standing dinosaurs are original fossilized bones.
Apatosaurus whips her tail at a charging raptor-like Allosarus. Even more startling - these very creatures may have had a run-in back in the day.
"These dinosaurs would have actually lived together - these two here Allosarus and Apatosaurus actually come from the same hole in the ground," Assistant Curator Matt Lamanna said.
About $36 million dollars in renovations have created a 3-story atrium setting and adjoining halls for "Dinosaurs In Their Time."
Touch screens showcase an explosion in scientific thought about dinosaurs gathered over the past hundred years and also allow for the latest discoveries.
"With the touch screen we can up update things immediately as soon as science happens," touch screen-web developer Cathy Klinger said.
Vivid murals have already won an international prize for their life-like accuracy.
"These are the most scientifically accurate reconstructions of the animals that we know of as of today - you know things do change in paleontology," mural creator Tess Kissinger said.
It was in 1898 that Andrew Carnegie launched his museum's first dinosaur hunt. They bagged the Diplodocus in Wyoming at 89 feet from tip to tail. "Dippy" is still the longest complete dinosaur specimen in captivity.
In phase one of the exhibit, "Dippy" and others from the Triassic and Jurassic periods as well as the "Cretaceous Seaway" have been cleaned and re-mounted.
Restorers have also turned previously 2-dimensional dinosaurs like the duck-billed Corythosaurus into 3-dimensional exhibits, painstakingly freeing them from the rock they were buried in.
It's all here and may just be one of the greatest shows – unearthed.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $11 for children and there are senior and student discounts.
But that covers admission to the Natural History and Art Museums as well as timed-entry for the dinosaurs because of the expected crowds.
You can do it all online at Dinosaurs In Their Time.
Learn more about the exhibit:
Story: New Jersey Company Rehabiliates Local Dino Exhibit
Slideshow: Museum Revamps Dino Exhibit
Video: Dino Hall Gets A Makeover
More:
Details | Buy Tickets Online | Hours, Directions & Info
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