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Natural History Museum in Mt. Gyeryong
The World's Third Largest Dinosaur Lived in Mt. Gyeryong
2009.08.27(목) | CNnews (
chungnamdo@korea.kr)
There is one more thing that makes Mt. Gyeryong National Park with its beautiful scenery and clean water more appealing to tourists; its “Natural History of Museum”, the largest size in the nation. It holds a huge collection of artifacts that show the changes of nature from the birth of the universe to today. It's situated at the edge of Mt. Gyeryong, Gongju, Chungnam.
The museum opened on September 21, 2004. Consisting of three stories above the ground and one story underground, it has a total area of 12,200㎡. Its collection includes animals, plants, minerals, and precious stones from Korea and all over the world, whose total number reaches 300,000. It's never closed from April to October and has every Monday off from November to March.
The Museum Attracts Attention with Its Rare Fossils
One of its main attractions is the mammoth fossil whose genuine preservation rate is more than 90%. Excavated in the layer from 75,000~100,000 years ago, the fossil is 3.5m high and 5.3m long. Another main attraction, the fossil of a cave lion, which is the ancestor of today African lion and lived about 75,000 years ago, is very rare. It's on exhibition only in three museums in the world, including this museum and the Natural History Museum of Spain. It also holds an array of rare genuine fossils critical to research on the environment of the lives of dinosaurs and the era in which they lived including Dromaeosaurus and Psittacosaurus.
First Floor, World of Dinosaurs
As soon as you come into the museum, you are faced with a gigantic dinosaur fossil and exclaim, “Wow! It's huge!” It's 25m long, 16m high and weighs 80 tons. It's the third largest dinosaur in assembly. Being a herbivorous dinosaur similar to Brachiosaurus, it has the name “Cheongwooni.” The moment you hear the name you may wonder, “So there was a dinosaur with a Korean name?” In fact, the guide will explain that “Our museum supported research grants to Kansas University, which excavated the fossil in 2002. Thus it's registered on the world's dinosaur list as a Korean name.”
Second Floor, Earth of Life
You can indulge in the rich collection of diverse stones and minerals and rare, beautiful precious stones from the birth of the universe. Your curiosity and imagination will be stimulated by the “cave lion” skeleton, with a number across the world of only four, and the spine, jaw, and shoulder bones of the world's largest blue whale (30m).
The museum opened on September 21, 2004. Consisting of three stories above the ground and one story underground, it has a total area of 12,200㎡. Its collection includes animals, plants, minerals, and precious stones from Korea and all over the world, whose total number reaches 300,000. It's never closed from April to October and has every Monday off from November to March.
The Museum Attracts Attention with Its Rare Fossils
One of its main attractions is the mammoth fossil whose genuine preservation rate is more than 90%. Excavated in the layer from 75,000~100,000 years ago, the fossil is 3.5m high and 5.3m long. Another main attraction, the fossil of a cave lion, which is the ancestor of today African lion and lived about 75,000 years ago, is very rare. It's on exhibition only in three museums in the world, including this museum and the Natural History Museum of Spain. It also holds an array of rare genuine fossils critical to research on the environment of the lives of dinosaurs and the era in which they lived including Dromaeosaurus and Psittacosaurus.
First Floor, World of Dinosaurs
As soon as you come into the museum, you are faced with a gigantic dinosaur fossil and exclaim, “Wow! It's huge!” It's 25m long, 16m high and weighs 80 tons. It's the third largest dinosaur in assembly. Being a herbivorous dinosaur similar to Brachiosaurus, it has the name “Cheongwooni.” The moment you hear the name you may wonder, “So there was a dinosaur with a Korean name?” In fact, the guide will explain that “Our museum supported research grants to Kansas University, which excavated the fossil in 2002. Thus it's registered on the world's dinosaur list as a Korean name.”
Second Floor, Earth of Life
You can indulge in the rich collection of diverse stones and minerals and rare, beautiful precious stones from the birth of the universe. Your curiosity and imagination will be stimulated by the “cave lion” skeleton, with a number across the world of only four, and the spine, jaw, and shoulder bones of the world's largest blue whale (30m).
