Bishop Museum

Lonely Planet review

Considered the finest Polynesian cultural-and natural-history museum in the world, the Bishop Museum is Hawaii's version of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. The museum was originally founded in 1889 in honor of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a descendant of the Kamehameha family, and originally housed only Hawaiian and royal artifacts.

The main gallery, Hawaiian Hall, covers the cultural history of Hawaii with displays including a full-sized pili -grass thatched house, carved temple images and shark-toothed war clubs. One of the museum's most impressive holdings is a feather cloak once worn by Kamehameha the Great, created entirely of the yellow feathers of the now-extinct mamo, a predominately black bird with a yellow upper tail. Some 80,000 birds were caught and plucked before they were released to create this single cloak. To get a sense of just how few feathers each bird had, look at the nearby taxidermic mamo, to the left of the Queen Lili'uokalani exhibit. On the 2nd floor, artifacts from 19th-century Hawaii include traditional tapa robes (cloth made by pounding the bark of the paper mulberry tree), missionary-inspired quilt work and barter items Yankee traders brought to the islands; there's also a small whaling exhibit, and Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop's whimsical hat collection.The final section of the gallery displays artifacts of the ethnic groups that comprise Hawaii today. Like Hawaii itself, it has a bit of everything, including samurai armor, Portuguese festival costumes, Taoist fortune-telling sticks and a Hawaiian ukulele made of coconut shells. An impressive 55ft sperm whale skeleton hangs from the ceiling, opposite a koa-tree royal racing canoe. The Hawaiian Hall will reopen in the spring of 2008 after an extensive renovation. The Kahili Room, a small gallery off the main hall, features portraits of Hawaiian royalty and a display of kahili, the feathered staffs used at coronations and royal funerals. A Polynesian Hall covers the cousin cultures of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. The new Science Adventure Center uses interactive exhibits to explain Hawaii's unique natural environment from volcanoes, ocean behavior and biodiversity. The museum is also home to O'ahu's only planetarium, which highlights traditional Polynesian methods of navigation, such as wave patterns and the position of the stars. Shows are held at 11:30 , 13:30 and 15:30 , and are included in the museum admission price. The gift shop off the lobby sells books on the Pacific not easily found elsewhere, as well as some quality Hawaiian crafts and souvenirs. A snack shop is open until 16:00 .