Auckland War Memorial Museum
(a.k.a. Auckland Museum, Te Papa Whakahiku)

The War Memorial Museum occupies a building with the appearance of a Greek temple and sits atop a hill in the Auckland Domain (park) overlooking the city and the harbour. It contains one of the finest collections of Maori and Polynesian culture in the world, in addition to natural history and other collections.

Note: A black "squiggle" that appears in some of these pictures -- a circle of very fine wire -- is actually a broken spring in our camera that was not discovered until our return home.

Two views of the building --
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A fully reconstructed Maori meeting house, with a friendly guide to explain
its importance in Maori villages, plus some other Maori art and architecture --
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A 30-metre war canoe, carved in 1836 from a single totara tree, used to carry 80 warriors --
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A few pictures from the Polynesian collection --
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The natural history collection includes prehistoric skeletons, a reconstruction of the extinct moa,
and displays of the mammals brought to NZ (intentionally or by accident) by the pakeha (persons
of European descent), which hastened extinctions of native fauna, already begun by the Maori --
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True to its name, the War Memorial Museum
includes a war memorial section.
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Follow this link to see pictures of a live performance of Maori dance, one of the highlights of the Museum.