• Illustration featuring many elements contained in a circular design, including a kite, the Te Papa building, male and female figures, people looking at art, someone skating, and people gardening

    Wana Ake Festival

    Create! Look! Explore! Celebrate summer at Te Papa with a dynamic festival of events, activities, exhibitions, and fun. Each week is different. Get up close with art, the world’s first Māori VR film, objects from TVNZ’s National Treasures, clay makers, Māori and Pasifika art, skate culture, a garden in the sky, and more. Find out what’s on & when: 12 Dec 2020 – 18 Apr 2021

  • View of the Rongomaraeroa marae, including the wharenui

    Rongomaraeroa | Te Marae

    All people have a right to stand on our marae, Rongomaraeroa, through a shared whakapapa and the mana of the taonga held in Te Papa’s collections.

  • Māori designs and carving

    Ko Rongowhakaata: Ruku i te Pō, Ruku i te Ao | The Story of Light and Shadow

    Discover awe-inspiring taonga (treasures), innovative contemporary art, and powerful stories of survival and tenacity from Rongowhakaata iwi (tribe).

  • Visitors in the Te Taiao | Nature exhibition look at moa skeletons

    Te Taiao | Nature

    Mātauranga Māori meets science in these interactive exhibitions about our weird and wonderful wildlife, our shaky land, and the innovative ways we’re protecting our natural taonga.

  • Composite image of a hei tiki, a photo showing a woman standing on a mountainside, and an octopus specimen in a jar

    Dive into the collections

    Explore 800,000 artworks, taonga, photographs, collection objects, and botanical and zoological specimens from Te Papa’s collections. Learn about different cultures – or your own! – or find inspiration for your own artworks.

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    Exhibitions

    Exhibitions

    Celebrate Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique natural environment. See Gallipoli through the eyes and words of eight ordinary New Zealanders. Immerse yourself in a room of colour. Hear extraordinary stories from young refugees.

  • Children with facepaint on playing in front of flags
    Events

    Events

    Our exciting programme of events runs all year. Watch song and dance performances, join in with kids activities and cultural days, hear from our experts, and much more.

  • Screenshot of video. A man in Te Papa Host uniform signs “hello”
    NZSL – plan your visit

    NZSL – plan your visit

    Here’s what you need to know before you visit Te Papa – from opening hours to car parking.

  • Four people standing in front of a wooden carving in a large space
    Guided tours

    Guided tours

    Get even more out of your visit to Te Papa by letting our guides bring the stories of Aotearoa New Zealand’s people and landscapes to life.

ExhibitionsNgā whakaaturanga

  • Black wool in a web stretched across a museum gallery floor, with white numbers sitting in random parts of it.
    Chiharu Shiota: The web of time

    Chiharu Shiota: The web of time

    The web of time, an installation by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, creates the vision of a night sky studded with constellations of numbers.

    On now
    On display now

    Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga

  • Illustration featuring many elements contained in a circular design, including a kite, the Te Papa building, male and female figures, people looking at art, someone skating, and people gardening
    Wana Ake Festival

    Wana Ake Festival

    Create! Look! Explore! Celebrate summer at Te Papa with a dynamic festival of events, activities, exhibitions, and fun.

    On now
    12 Dec 2020 – 18 Apr 2021

    Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga

  • Colourful stage set with person in costume
    World of WearableArt – Up Close

    World of WearableArt – Up Close

    Experience World of WearableArt like never before. A theatrical journey and immersive exhibition that invites you to get up close to the extraordinary garments and explore limitless creativity. 

    On now
    12 Dec 2020 – 14 Feb 2021

    Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga

  • Inside the nature exhibition
    Te Taiao | Nature

    Te Taiao | Nature

    You’re the explorer in our Te Taiao | Nature exhibition zone. Celebrate Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique natural environment – and get ready for our future as kaitiaki.

    On now
    Permanent exhibition

    Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga

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    Toi Art

    Toi Art

    Discover our world of art, featuring new, exciting commissions alongside the national art collection.

    On now
    Long-term and temporary exhibitions

    Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga

See all exhibitions

EventsNgā kaupapa motuhake

  • Four women with their hands in the air in a dark stage space
    For Asterié: performed by Inano Dance

    For Asterié: performed by Inano Dance

    Join Inano Dance as they explore the story of two lovers, separated by sea and tempted by others, in this performance inspired by the painting Asterié.

    Sun 17 Jan 2021, 11.30am–11.45am

    Event Ngā kaupapa motuhake

  • Two people wearing black and white costumes
    Late Nights

    Late Nights

    Join us for a late night of up-close wearable art, after hours.

    Thu 4 Feb 2021, 7.00pm–9.30pm

    Event Ngā kaupapa motuhake

  • A woman's eye showing through sea shapes made of felt
    Talks: Up Close with WOW

    Talks: Up Close with WOW

    Hear fascinating behind-the-scene stories of how the people at WOW bring this yearly event together.

    Tue 19 Jan 2021, 12.00pm–1.00pm
    Tue 2 Feb 2021, 12.00pm–1.00pm

    Event Ngā kaupapa motuhake

  • A man carving wood on a table with a lot of tools surrounding him
    Celebrating Makers: Māori and Pacific Art – Carving

    Celebrating Makers: Māori and Pacific Art – Carving

    Get up close and immerse yourself in Māori and Pacific art with a celebration of carvers on our marae.

    Fri 22 Jan 2021, 10.00am–3.00pm
    Sat 23 Jan 2021, 10.00am–3.00pm

    Event Ngā kaupapa motuhake

See all events

Explore Te Papa at homeToroa Te Papa i te kāinga

  • View of Oriental Bay, with Wellington Harbour on the left and houses lining the street on the right. A crowd of hundreds is walking along the boardwalk
    Online jigsaw puzzles using our collections

    Online jigsaw puzzles using our collections

    Take a moment or two to relax with online jigsaw puzzles using taonga from our collections. Come back frequently to find new ones!

  • Two people looking at the camera
    Raranga Matihiko TV – Home learning

    Raranga Matihiko TV – Home learning

    The Raranga Matihiko team and our Learning team have created 16 episodes, designed for home learning for junior and senior students, that weave digital technologies around museum taonga, and exploring kaitiakitanga (guardianship and protection).

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    The Current

    The Current

    Add your voice to The Current and help solve New Zealand’s toughest nature challenges. We’ll share your anonymous response with researchers via data.govt.nz.

  • Maramataka dial is displayed on a wall. To the left, a plant hangs into the frame. To the right, a taxidermied penguin appears in the frame. Under the dial can be seen an open book
    How to use the Maramataka | Māori lunar calendar

    How to use the Maramataka | Māori lunar calendar

    Print a Maramataka dial, explore its energy levels, and use it to plan activities with your whānau.

  • Illustration of a tattooed Māori chief 1784
    Tāmoko | Māori tattoos: history, practice, and meanings

    Tāmoko | Māori tattoos: history, practice, and meanings

    Discover the history and practice of tāmoko, and find out why the lines of a moko carved in skin represent much more than a tattoo.

  • Sailing vessel
    Voyage and discovery in the Pacific

    Voyage and discovery in the Pacific

    The history of the discovery of Aotearoa New Zealand goes back a millennium and contains the stories of many fine explorers, from Kupe to Cook. Here, explore Pacific exploration and European colonisation through our taonga, kōrero, and events.

  • A kaka, a type of parrot with red under its wings
    Birds of New Zealand

    Birds of New Zealand

    Birds are an important part of New Zealand's nationhood. We are the only nation where the people are colloquially known by a bird name – 'Kiwi'.

  • Manuka, Leptospermum scoparium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., collected 02 Apr 2009, southern Wairarapa, New Zealand. CC BY-NC-NDCC licence. Te Papa (SP087325)
    Māori medicine

    Māori medicine

    Rongoā Māori is the traditional Māori healing system. Ailments are treated in a holistic manner.

  • Green fence with a hand-painted sign on it saying, 'Give nothing to racism' in green and black.
    Antiracism and activism

    Antiracism and activism

    Articles on protest, decolonisation, and antiracism from our experts and across the web.

  • A man receiving a Samoan tatoo in Te Papa
    Sāmoan tatau (tattoo) meanings, stories, tools, and history

    Sāmoan tatau (tattoo) meanings, stories, tools, and history

    Pacific curator Sean Mallon and Sāmoan tatau artists Sulu’ape Steve Looney and Tuigamala Andy Tauafiafi talk about the meanings and history of Sāmoan tattooing.

  • Close-up of 1905 All Blacks jersey, featuring a brown crest on the top and a large silver fern on the left-hand side. The jersey is black
    The significance of the silver fern

    The significance of the silver fern

    The ‘silver fern’ (Cyathea dealbata) – ponga in te reo Māori – is a species of tree fern only found in New Zealand, and as such has become a potent symbol.

  • Kete whakairo (patterned bag), 1800-1833, New Zealand, maker unknown. Purchased 1977. Te Papa (ME013967)
    Māori weaving

    Māori weaving

    Learn about the goddess of te whare pora (the house of weaving) and the different types of weaving that are important in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Get involved Whakaeke mai