Stories of mythical beings have been with us for thousands of years. Giants, Dragons & Unicorns: The World of Mythic Creatures — The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature’s newest special exhibition — traces the natural and cultural roots of some of the world’s most enduring mythic creatures.
Opening Sept. 21, the family-friendly Giants, Dragons & Unicorns: The World of Mythic Creatures features unique cultural objects to highlight the surprising similarities and differences in the ways people around the world envision and depict mythic creatures. This new exhibition, which will be open through Jan. 5, 2020, is organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York (amnh.org).
Discover how narwhal tusks were believed to be magical remnants of unicorn horns, how dinosaur fossils may have been mistaken for the remains of griffins learn and how tales of sea monsters may simply have been fisherman’s tales of real creatures such as the oarfish and giant squid. The exhibition also includes video interviews with experts discussing the significance of mythical creatures and their possible real-life counterparts.
Exhibition highlights include a stunning vibrant sculpture of the African water spirit Mami Wata (shown above); a replica “Feejee mermaid,” of the type made famous by showman P. T. Barnum, created by sewing the head and torso of a monkey to the tail of a fish; a “life-size” model of a European unicorn; a touchable narwhal tusk and a dramatic model of a kraken, whose tentacles appear to rise out of the floor as if surfacing from the sea.
Giants, Dragons & Unicorns: The World of Mythic Creatures also offers interactive stations. Build your own virtual dragon and watch as it comes alive in a virtual environment, create a “giant” by rearranging scale models of mammoth bones to look like a giant human skeleton — and don’t miss a fun photo opportunity with dragons!
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