Today sees the start of an exhibition in the Natural Sciences Museum in Brussels based around the king of all dinosaurs – Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The exhibition, which will run for the next ten months, is designed to be suitable for anyone aged five years and upwards – which most of us are – but also caters to older dinosaur fans.
“All dinosaur fans will find something to delight them,” the museum, situated on the Chaussée de Wavre at the back of the European Parliament behemoth, said. If you’ve ever visited the museum, you’ll know that promise rings true.
The public areas of the museum are situated on the lower floors of a multi-storey building, with the upper floors consisting of a scientific research institute into the natural sciences, renowned throughout the world.
In those public areas, there are already zones devoted to dinosaurs, but nothing compares to T. Rex.
The exhibition starts with a 3D print of a female T. Rex that is 67 million years old, and may make you glad you are not yourself five years old any more, so impressive is she. The real thing was dug up in Montana. For older children and adults, there is at every stage more information from the scientists about their diet, how they lived and so on.
One thing the museum is known for among parents is the provision of do-activities for younger and older children. These are free on demand, and any parent will tell you they do wonders in keeping children engaged – for a certain time but no longer, and parents will know best.
© Museum of Natural Sciences
Try for example cycling on a static bike against a T. Rex at full speed. If you can reach and keep a speed of 20km/h, you might not be eaten in one gulp.
The exhibition comes from Naturalis, the natural history museum in Leiden in the Netherlands, but the Brussels museum, with its own collection of dinosaur artefacts, has been able to put its own stamp on things.
The museum is closed on Monday, like all museums. On the first Wednesday of the month entry is free, but it’s very, very busy.
