Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

New Zealand Museum Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum of New Zealand, located in Wellington. Known as Te Papa, or “Our Place,” it opened in 1998 after the merger of the National Museum and the National Art Gallery. More than 1.5 million people visit each year.

The long term exhibitions of cultural objects focus on New Zealand history, Māori culture and New Zealand's natural world. The hands-on and interactive exhibitions focus on engaging particularly young visitors and include both indoor areas and out-door areas built and planted for the purpose. The key cultural space is the Te Hono ki Hawaiki marae with very impressive whakairo. The Archives are located in a separate building at Tory Street and are open for researchers on appointment. There are two categories of archive collections: the museum archive and the collected archives. The Museum Archive goes back to the founding of the Colonial Museum in 1865 and that comprise the archives of James Hector. The archives of the National Art Gallery of New Zealand are also part of these archives.