What’s the worst dinosaur or paleontology gallery you’ve been to?

[AcryAllo]

What do y'all think?
Any ideas?

[Libraraptor]

I can´t remember any particular "bad" gallery, since no matter where I was, at least I could always see a certain effort that the people had put into their concerns. Never witnessed any slopiness. What I absolutely cannot stand, however, are poorly organized traveling exhibitions, which have been heard of more frequently in Germany lately. People who are only concerned about profit and not about providing proper knowledge. I can smell such offers from miles away and avoid them at all costs.

[Dusty Wren]

Not a gallery, but this Stegosaurus in front of the Pacific Science Center in Seattle lives rent free in my head.

[Libraraptor]

That snout looks very, very strange. It looks like he wants to tell us it does not feel that well with how he was depicted at all  

[Totoro]

It's that crazy, slapped on, grimacing mouth!    Remove that and it's actually awesome. Just cover it with a fingertip and the head is transformed.

[AcryAllo]

In that case, do not visit the Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester UK, its information and models are decades out of date...If you value your sanity, do not go!

[Brontozaurus]

If I had to pick one, it'd be the National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra, Australia. It used to be pretty good, and in many respects still is - it's got some good displays, and it highlights local finds as well as flashy international ones. Then over a decade ago it got a new owner (a commercial fossil & rock dealer, I think) who stuffed it full of cheap models and animatronics. Like imagine one of those classic displays where there's a skeleton and a beautiful painted diorama behind it, but then around its feet are five shitty rubber raptors that twitch and make Jurassic Park sounds. It's a sensory and aesthetic nightmare.

[Paleomimi]

No such thing as a bad dinosaur gallery. Where I grew up there used to be nothing of the sort and no dinosaur museum either. The largest dinosaur exhibit around was probably my bedroom   Now everytime I get the chance to visit something like that I'm extremely happy. Wether it's parcs, museums or yes, even those traveling exhibitions with animatronics, I love them! It has a sense of grandiose and spectacle, it fills me with childlike wonder no matter what. Not everyone has the chance to see stuff like that due to geographical location.

[Gwangi]

I imagine that the worst ones are probably at the creationist museums in the United States. I haven't been to any but it's just a hunch.

[DinoToyForum]

I imagine that the worst ones are probably at the creationist museums in the United States. I haven't been to any but it's just a hunch.

Good call. I don't like criticising other museums because a lot of what they do is budget dependent. But creationsist museums are fair game because they are well-funded and awful, so they have no excuse. So, I nominate Genesis Expo in Portsmouth, where I learned Parasaurolophus breathed fire, and T. rex looks like this...




(Pictures from Trip Advisor)

[Totoro]

and T. rex looks like this...




(Pictures from Trip Advisor)

T rex: "It's a bad angle...the camera adds weight...err...I just woke up and hadn't had any coffee..."

[Gwangi]

I did not know that England had its own creationist museums @DinoToyForum, I thought it was a uniquely American thing. I'm almost as relieved as I am troubled by this knowledge.

[Torvosaurus]

and T. rex looks like this...




(Pictures from Trip Advisor)

T rex: "It's a bad angle...the camera adds weight...err...I just woke up and hadn't had any coffee..."

That t-rex looks like it was injured in a car accident and has a neck brace on.

Torvo

[Torvosaurus]

I did not know that England had its own creationist museums @DinoToyForum, I thought it was a uniquely American thing. I'm almost as relieved as I am troubled by this knowledge.

I've never been to a creationist museum. I actually don't know of any natural history museums that are bad, they just have different amounts of funding for paleontology. The closest to a "bad" museum is the Wyoming State Museum. It's mostly about current Wyoming history and has 3 or 4 items on natural history. The lone dinosaur they have is a Tenontosaurus (I think that's what it was, it's been a while) that is mounted upright like a Charles Knight "Trachodon".

Torvo

Edit: Just looked at the Wyoming State Museum website. Looks like they updated a bit and have a full Triceratops skeleton in a more or less natural stance. Have to go down there one of these days.

[Gwangi]

I did not know that England had its own creationist museums @DinoToyForum, I thought it was a uniquely American thing. I'm almost as relieved as I am troubled by this knowledge.

I've never been to a creationist museum. I actually don't know of any natural history museums that are bad, they just have different amounts of funding for paleontology. The closest to a "bad" museum is the Wyoming State Museum. It's mostly about current Wyoming history and has 3 or 4 items on natural history. The lone dinosaur they have is a Tenontosaurus (I think that's what it was, it's been a while) that is mounted upright like a Charles Knight "Trachodon".

Torvo

Edit: Just looked at the Wyoming State Museum website. Looks like they updated a bit and have a full Triceratops skeleton in a more or less natural stance. Have to go down there one of these days.

I've seen some weak dinosaur displays but never a bad one. And usually the only reason the dinosaur displays were weak is because displaying dinosaurs was not the primary goal of the establishment. Like, the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca New York doesn't have a lot going for it when it comes to dinosaurs but has a fantastic collection of Devonian stuff. But that makes sense because their focus is on New York's natural history and that's what NY has.

[DinoToyForum]

I did not know that England had its own creationist museums @DinoToyForum, I thought it was a uniquely American thing. I'm almost as relieved as I am troubled by this knowledge.

I've never been to a creationist museum. I actually don't know of any natural history museums that are bad, they just have different amounts of funding for paleontology. The closest to a "bad" museum is the Wyoming State Museum. It's mostly about current Wyoming history and has 3 or 4 items on natural history. The lone dinosaur they have is a Tenontosaurus (I think that's what it was, it's been a while) that is mounted upright like a Charles Knight "Trachodon".

Torvo

Edit: Just looked at the Wyoming State Museum website. Looks like they updated a bit and have a full Triceratops skeleton in a more or less natural stance. Have to go down there one of these days.

Genesis Expo is the only one I'm aware of in the UK, and it is very small. I only know it because I went to the University of Portsmouth and the 'museum' was just up the road from my halls of residence. I visited with a bunch of other palaeo students for the giggles. That was over 20 years ago.

[suspsy]

Any creationist museum is the worst by default.

[crazy8wizard]

Any creationist museum is the worst by default.

Scientifically this is undoubtedly the case, but frustratingly, a lot of creationist museums have boatloads of funding and can often afford very skilled artists who make incredible detailed models or sleek exhibits. As eye rolling as it is, I've seen real museum models much worse than the dinosaurs on the Ark Encounter.

[bigjay]

As far as reputable museums and institutions go, I think I'm going to give my dishonorable mention to the Royal Ontario Museum's renovated prehistory gallery (the big prism thing).

Granted, it's been a while since I've been, but it left a pretty strong negative impression. They have no shortage of excellent material on display but it has the aesthetic sensibilities of an airport terminal and the welcoming ambience of a hospital waiting room. The fossils aren't displayed with any kind of visual context - no dioramas, no reconstructions, no interactions, and many don't seem to be arranged by age or geographic location. They're just... around. Objects in a space instead of animals that used to be alive on the planet. The big prism offers lots of natural light, but also a lot of weird angles, white floors and wasted space. It feels like they wanted an IKEA more than a natural history gallery...

Edit to note it's far from the worst paleontology gallery, but it wasn't for me. This also does not account for the Burgess Shale/early life exhibit, which was installed later than the prism reno - I've heard it's a very nice display.

[Jit]

I imagine that the worst ones are probably at the creationist museums in the United States. I haven't been to any but it's just a hunch.

Actually they are pretty well represented (the Creation museum) and by well represented I mean they are basically ripped from JP. The Ark museum has some pretty up to date representations of Pterosaurs and such.