Te Papa News and Media Enquiries 

Te Papa’s Chief Executive Michael Houlihan has paid tribute to the New Zealand China Friendship Society for their role in the temporary return of a Māori feather cloak gifted to Chairman Mao Zedong.

Te Papa’s Whales exhibition is about to open at one of the world’s most prestigious venues, the American Museum of Natural History, in New York.

Te Papa’s summer blockbuster exhibition, Game Masters, opens this weekend (Saturday 15 December) with an action-packed programme of dance contests, caricatures, and free face-painting.  Visitors to Te Papa can meet artists and programmers, and some favourite video-game characters. 

The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) welcomed the release today by the Government of the Host Nation Report on Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011), ahead of a new exhibition at Te Papa which celebrates the tournament and rugby.

Te Papa is building Wellington’s biggest ever gingerbread house.  On Wednesday 5 December, Te Papa’s Executive Chef Bernd Lippmann and Te Papa’s catering team of skilled bakers will erect a 1.8 metre tall gingerbread house made wholly of edible materials

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is please to have four Māori ancestral remains returning from the USA and Canada. These ancestors have been housed for a number of years at Stanford University in California, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada and within a private collection in Oklahoma.

In association with Te Papa’s season of Game Masters exhibition, opening at Te Papa on 15 December, renowned electronic musician/producer Module, aka Jeramiah Ross, will perform his critically acclaimed soundtrack from the award-winning video game Shatter.

A beautiful kahu huruhuru (Feather Cloak), from the National Museum of China's collection, gifted to Chairman Mao in 1957, will go on show during Te Papa’s touring exhibitions Kura Pounamu: Treasured Stone of Aotearoa New Zealand and Brian Brake: Lens on China and New Zealand, which open at the Museum in Beijing on 31 October 2012 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and China.

新西兰国家博物馆庆祝新西兰与中国建交40周年