Natural History Museum of Utah

The Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) at 301 Wakara Way in Salt Lake City occupies a striking copper-clad building on the University of Utah campus, opened in 2011. The building, designed by Ennead Architects, echoes the striated canyon walls of the Colorado Plateau and is clearly visible from much of the Salt Lake Valley. The museum holds one of the most significant paleontology collections in the United States, anchored by the Past Worlds gallery — a full-height exhibition of mounted dinosaur skeletons including Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Utah's own Utahraptor, a theropod larger than Velociraptor described from fossils found in the Cedar Mountain Formation. The Collections Core, a glass-walled research vault visible from the exhibit floor, houses more than 1.5 million specimens and allows visitors to observe active scientific curation work in progress. The Native Voices gallery presents the perspectives of Utah's eight federally recognized tribes on natural history, land, and culture, with content developed in partnership with tribal members over several years. The Earth gallery traces Utah's complete geologic story from Precambrian sea to the Ice Age Lake Bonneville, directly tying museum content to landscapes visitors have seen or will visit at the state's parks. The Gems and Minerals collection on the ground floor spans thousands of specimens from Utah's rich mining districts. The museum café opens onto a terrace with panoramic views of the Salt Lake Valley and the Wasatch Range. TRAX Red Line Fort Douglas station is approximately a 10-minute walk from the museum entrance along a paved campus path. Parking is available in adjacent University of Utah campus garages for a fee.