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Founded in memory of Pauahi
Charles Reed Bishop founded the museum in 1889 in memory of his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha dynasty, who had died in 1884. It was built to house the royal family heirlooms that had come to him through her, and opened to the public in June 1891.


Halls of stone
Hawaiian Hall and Polynesian Hall, built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, stand at the heart of the campus. The museum occupies the original boys’ campus of Kamehameha Schools, which moved to Kapālama in 1940 and left room for the museum to grow. The halls were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Science and the stars
The museum is Hawaiʻi’s State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, with more than 24 million natural history specimens. The Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center opened in November 2005, and the Watumull Planetarium is described as the oldest planetarium in Polynesia.


