Reshaping history: Find out which NM museum will be closed for seven months

Dinosaur fanatics will have to get their fill of fossils this summer because the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science is set to close for seven months beginning in August for renovations.

Changes are coming to exhibition spaces, the ticket booth and the front entrance, as well as plumbing and street infrastructure, according to a Department of Cultural Affairs news release. The renovations are expected to cost $3.67 million, which is being paid for by statewide capital outlay from the Legislature and the Cultural Affairs Infrastructure Fund. Additional funding from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation will be used to renovate the gift shop.

This is the first substantial renovation of the building since 1999, when the atrium was redesigned, said Stephen Hamway, Department of Cultural Affairs spokesperson.

Programming like First Friday Fractals will still be available during parts of the renovation, otherwise the museum with its towering dinosaur bones, time-traveling elevator and Martian rover will be closed beginning Aug. 4. The museum is tentatively set to reopen in February in time for its 40th anniversary.

When the museum reopens, there will be a combination of new permanent and traveling exhibits, as well as crucial updates to existing displays that need “some love,” said Anthony Fiorillo, museum executive director.

“Science is a process,” Fiorillo said, part of which demands bringing some of the older exhibits up to date with modern thinking.

In the museum’s absence, museum educators plan to bring science and history programs to schools, libraries and other public spaces in the community. Those on staff for the museum’s day-to-day operations and maintenance will be reassigned within the Department of Cultural Affairs in the interim, according to the release.

The community can give input on the museum’s future at the “What’s Old Will Be New” community engagement event on June 27. The museum is also hosting a free farewell event the weekend before the closure for the community to say goodbye — for now.

“Even this morning, as I walked into the building, I was imagining what this is going to look like a year from now, and I’m pretty excited about what’s coming,” Fiorillo said. “So hopefully the public will embrace it, enjoy it, and ... be a repeat visitor.”