Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum

is a museum in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.Chubu Wide-Area Tourism Promotion Council, Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum ; retrieved 2012-10-18. It is one of many museums supported by prefectures in Japan. The museum is in the Nagaoyama Park in the city of Katsuyama.Katsuyama City, "Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum" ; retrieved 2012-10-18.

Because of a number of dinosaur fossils found here, the whole city of Katsuyama was called “Dinosaur Valley Fukui Katsuyama Geopark” in 2008.

Guide tours are held here during warm seasons. It is said to be one of the Three Greatest Dinosaur Museums with The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Canada and The Zigong Dinosaur Museum in China.

As of 2020, more than 11 milion people visited the museum in total. 

History
The museum was opened in 2000, close to a real dinosaur remains site. It was built in Katsuyama because a lot of fossils have been found there since 1989. Famous fossils such as Fukuiraptor and Fukuisaurus are also showed in this museum.

The building was designed by Kisho Kurokawa.

The building was made in a dome shape.

The cost of the construction was about 14 billion Japanese Yen. 

In 2014, a dinosaur building was opened outside, in which people can experience digging fossil as they look at the remains. 

 Exhibits 
The exhibition is divided into 5 zones: "Dino Street", "World of Dinosaurs", "Science of the Earth", "History of Life", and "Dino Lab". 44 skeletons of dinosaurs including 10 original fossils are displayed in the "World of Dinosaurs" zone. 

The “Science of the Earth” zone shows the earth from two points of view--“Water and the Earth” and “Fire and the Earth”. People can see how active the Earth is by observing its sediments, rocks, and minerals. 

The “History of Life” zone shows the origin of life and vertebrates, and how they have evolved for 4.6 billion years. Organisms on the Earth have evolved through a repeated cycle of evolution and extinction. As living organisms and environment influenced each other, the present Earth environment was formed. You can read the story of life as told by these fossils. 

References

Other websites
 Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum website
 Dinosaur Valley Fukui Katsuyama Geopark website 
 Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum on Japan National Tourism Organization website

Category:Museums in Japan
Category:Dinosaurs
Category:2000 establishments in Japan
Category:Fukui Prefecture