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Museum of Science & History (MOSH)
The MOSH, or Museum of Science &
History found in Jacksonville, Florida is private and nonprofit,
sitting on the Southbank Riverwalk, is the most popular museum in
the city and was intended to be a hands-on science and history
experience for children. One of the best interactive and award
winning displays is the Currents of Time, that explores 12 centuries
of northeast Florida history, or the Atlantic Trails, that
highlights the indigenous mammals of the region's waterways. Another
great favorite is the Alexander Brest Planetarium that shows
numerous films daily and the 60 foot diameter dome-shaped projection
screen encourages the audience to learn about the stars, learning
about astronomy, present and past. The museum's roots can be traced
back to 1941, when the city's children's museum was chartered and
their first home happened to be a stately Victorian mansion in
Riverside. Construction for their new building started in 1965, and
opened in 1969, with the children's museum becoming the Jacksonville
Museum of Arts and Sciences in 1977, gaining accreditation some six
years after. After that, their name was changed to the Museum of
Science and History, during 1988, and they gained another 37,000
square feet of additional exhibiting space; which included the
Alexander Brest Planetarium. There is a magnificent permanent Civil
War exhibit, as well as marvelous displays of natural history and
tools that will help you discover the physical and natural worlds
that surround us in the region. Also highlighted are the displays of
the environment and ecology of the area around Jacksonville, one of
the best being the mammals of northeast Florida; with a fabulous
display about the Timucan Native Americans that lived here long
before the Spanish conquistadors. Some of the current exhibits now
on display at the museum include the A-Mazing Sea that runs until
the beginning of May, 2010, that enables you to explore a number of
mazes, learning about the life that lives under the water and the
environmental issues that face us all. When your child answers the
question correctly, they move ahead through the maze making it all
that much more interesting and meaningful. Another is the Body
Within that has you entering into the body through a huge mouth,
then walking through the digestive system, and then out the end,
literally, the end being your rear end; which helps you and your
children learn more about the body and the incredible functions that
this amazing complex machine works. Water Worlds is another
exhibit, that is now permanent, that helps you to explore the
underwater world of the first coast, with other aquariums that will
show you numerous water habitats and contains live aquatic animals
that are found in this state and around the region. In the Currents
of Time display, you travel back into the past while walking into
the past history of the city and northeast Florida, from the
earliest settlers that came here more than 10 centuries ago right up
to the modern day; and how it came to be the city it is today.
Atlantic Tails opens up the ocean with a life sized right whale and
her new baby, with many marine mammals and authentic marine
skeletons. At the Aqua Expo, you will see how water works without
getting you wet, and in the Attic display, a rotating exhibit
contains artifacts about the history of the museum, its collections
and loans that marvel visitors. In Prehistoric Park, an allosaurus
skeleton greets you and at the Naturalist's Center you will have the
opportunity to meet all the animals that live here like owls,
alligators, tortoises, and snakes.
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