The Milstein Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History is one of New York's best-known grand spaces and home to a celebrated 94-foot-long model of a blue whale. The Hall's classic lines and visually arresting elegance have been restored and reinvigorated with cutting-edge exhibition technology and the latest scientific research on the mysteries of our vast water planet, of which only 5 percent of the deep ocean has been explored. The 29,000-square-foot Hall has been transformed into a fully immersive marine environment with high-definition video projections, interactive computer stations, hands-on models, 14 renovated classic dioramas, and eight new ocean ecosystem displays that transport visitors from the rainbow-hued profusion of life in the Indo-Pacific coral reefs to the flickering bioluminescence of fishes in the eerie darkness of the deep sea. The new Milstein Hall of Ocean Life highlights as never before the drama of the undersea world and its diverse and complex web of vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant life.
The monumental model of a blue whale, one of the most beloved icons in New York City, resculpted and repainted to more accurately reflect the look of blue whales at sea, now serves as ambassador to the open ocean—the largest habitable space on Earth, covering almost two-thirds of the planet. The Hall's original skylights have been retrofitted with a shimmering blue light effect, which, combined with an undersea soundscape, creates the illusion of the whale floating in a "virtual ocean"—from its sun-dappled surface waters through its darkest depths. The Hall is now home to models of more than 750 sea creatures, 80 percent of which (or about 600) are newly fabricated models, ranging from tiny green bubble algae to a 14-foot-long whale shark to computerized glowing jellyfishes.