Te Papa Tongarewa Museum
Te Papa ("Our Place"), The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
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 Location in Wellington
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| Established | 1992 (current building opened in 1998) |
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| Location | Cable Street, Wellington, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 41°17′26″S 174°46′56″E / 41.290589°S 174.782154°E |
| Visitors | 1,578,292 (mid-2016 to mid-2017) |
| Director | Geraint Martin |
| Website | Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa official website |
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum, located in Wellington. Known as Te Papa, or "Our Place", it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum and the National Art Gallery. More than 1.5 million people visit every year.
Te Papa Tongarewa translates literally to "container of treasures". A fuller interpretation is ‘our container of treasured things and people that spring from mother earth here in New Zealand’. Te Papa's philosophy emphasises the living face behind its cultural treasures, many of which retain deep ancestral links to the indigenous Māori people. The Museum recognises the partnership that was created by the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, te Tiriti o Waitangi, in 1840.
The five main collections areas are Arts, History, Taonga Māori, Pacific Cultures, and Natural History.
The first predecessor of Te Papa was the Colonial Museum, founded in 1865, with James Hector as founding director. It was built on Museum Street. Halfway through the 1930s the museum moved to the new Dominion Museum building in Buckle Street, where the National Art Gallery of New Zealand was also housed.
The National Art Gallery was opened in 1936 and occupied the first floor of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum building on Buckle Street, Wellington. It was originally populated with a collection donated by Academy of Fine Arts. The Gallery was formed with the passing of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum Act (1930). Both the Dominion Museum and Gallery were overseen by a single board of trustees. The official opening was by the Governor General in 1934.
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