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Home / Exhibits
Gold! Natural Treasure, Cultural Obsession
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Gold! Natural Treasure, Cultural Obsession
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Don’t miss this golden opportunity to be dazzled by the beauty and wonder of the world’s most highly coveted and enduring form of wealth!
Opening Feb. 18 and continuing through Aug. 7, Gold! Natural Treasure, Cultural Obsession is an exhibition straight from King Midas’ dreams.
Gold inspired the madness of gold rushes, held steadfast in value through world turmoil and transformed into objects of pure beauty. Alluring, fascinating and precious, this noble metal has inspired millions, adorned the powerful—and changed the world. Gold! Natural Treasure, Cultural Obsession provides visitors the chance to explore the role of gold in science, history, art, culture and myth.
See some of the largest gold nuggets in existence; walk through a room completely covered in gold; touch a 25-pound gold bar like those in Fort Knox; dive underwater to the sites of lost treasures; and see golden icons of our culture, including Olympic medals, Nobel Prize medallions and Academy Awards Oscar® statuettes. Trace the human obsession with gold throughout history and across diverse cultures—from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt to the New World and the Spanish Conquest. Experience the alluring splendor of the finest gold specimens on earth; see hoards of gold bullion and coins from around the world; and learn how gold is found, mined, refined and turned into fascinatingly beautiful objects such as the stunning Indian wedding dress that will be on display. In the exhibit’s X•ploration Station kids can try their hand at panning gold, guess the amount of gold in a boulder of ore and use their senses to investigate the many facets of gold.
In conjunction the exhibition, HMNS presents the large-format film Gold Fever! at the Wortham IMAX® Theatre. Travel the world in search of gold—soaring to the heights of the Yukon Mountains and plunging through a dizzying, mile-long free fall to the bottom of a mineshaft. Follow gold from its mining as raw ore to its minting into stockpiles of gleaming gold bars. Gold Fever! goes beyond the exhibition to further explore the cultural, economic and historical significance of this natural treasure.
This exhibition was organized by the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with the generous support of The Wortham Foundation, Inc.; The Hamill Foundation; The W.T. and Louise Moran Foundation; Goldman Sachs; and Wells Fargo.
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