CLEVELAND — As time passes, an Ohio attraction dedicated to inspiring a passion for preserving nature is contining its evolution.
 

What You Need To Know

  • The Cleveland Museum of Natural History opened the first phase of their transformation project to the public

  • The project will cost about $150 million to complete, and is running two years ahead of schedule with a Dec. 2024 estimated completion

  • More interactive exhibits and a brighter space with more natural light are among the facility's enhancements
​The first phase of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's $150 million transformation project is now open to the public. The entire renovation is expected to be finished by Dec. 2024, two years ahead of the initial schedule. 

An updated hands-on children’s activity area, the Smead Discovery Center, allowed future scientist Naomi Jones to focus on making a major find. 

“Some sort of fossil that no one has seen before,” she said. 

The 10-year-old patiently and methodically brushed debris off a figure at the Fossil Dig table, while her little sister Nariah Jones, 4, was more interested in getting her hands dirty. 

“I’m making a sand castle,” Nariah Jones said. 

Either way, their grandmother Tabitha Jones was happy for the girls to get some hands-on lessons. 

“Their little minds are always working, always learning, always exploring,” she said. “So, this is just a good place for them to go to do that.”

Sonia Winner, museum president and CEO, said activities like hunting for fossils help make learning fun. 

“These are our future leaders, and so having them exposed to science and nature is so important during these formative years because they will be making decisions for all of us,” Winner said. 

She said connecting with visitors and making science relevant are at the core of the facility’s transformation project, updating the more than a century old museum by adding more natural light and space for exhibits. 

“The planetarium is really the focal point of the museum now and it shows that we’re going to have two different wings of the building,” she said, pointing at a model of the University Circle area. 

Increased interactivity is also a big focus of the updated facility. Exhibits like the Birdly virtual reality system let guests fly among the dinosaurs. 

The full-body experience and displays like Andy Warhol’s Endangered Species artworks help tell a story, Winner said. 

“Our own health is really so interconnected with the health of the other creatures that are on this planet,” she said. "One of the things that we’re really trying to showcase with the new museum is that human decisions, the things that we do, have such an impact on others and really on our planet.”

The exhibits help provide a peek in to Earth’s past and present as part of the museum’s vision for the future.

“A hundred years from now we want this museum to thrive and we want people to care about our world,” she said. “And I think that’s very motivating.”

Admission to the museum is free on Sundays for Cleveland and East Cleveland residents thanks to a gift by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.