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Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA

Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

MuseumsFamily FavoriteRainy-Day Pick

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

4400 Forbes Ave · Pittsburgh, PA

Why you should go…

Andrew Carnegie founded this museum in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood in 1896, and it holds about 22 million specimens, with roughly 10,000 on view at a time. Its dinosaur collection includes Diplodocus carnegii, unearthed in 1899, and the first Tyrannosaurus rex specimen, shown in the Dinosaurs in Their Time hall. Other halls cover minerals and gems, ancient Egypt, geology and Arctic life, and admission covers the Carnegie Museum of Art in the same building.

  • #natural history museum
  • #dinosaurs
  • #minerals and gems
  • #family museum

Good to know

General museums guidance

Habits that pay off across this whole category, not rules for this one venue. Always check the official site for the specifics.

  • Check the special exhibition separately

    Touring shows usually carry their own ticket and their own opening hours, listed apart from general admission.

  • Look for the free window

    Many museums run community days, member evenings, or discounted late openings. It is worth a look before you pay full price.

  • Travel light through the door

    Large bags and backpacks often have to go to a coat check, and lines for it move slowly at opening.

  • Weekday mornings beat weekend afternoons

    School groups clear out by early afternoon midweek, while weekends stay busy from late morning on.

What's around here?

The closest stops to Carnegie Museum of Natural History, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Museums
    Rainy-Day Pick

    Carnegie Museum of Art

    $25–$50

    Walk through galleries of painting, sculpture and design, plus a hall filled with full-size plaster casts of historic buildings.

    Right next doorMore like this

  • Sightseeing
    History Buff

    Cathedral of Learning

    Free

    Step into a 42-story Gothic Revival tower with a vaulted Commons Room and classrooms designed around world cultures.

    Steps awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Attractions
    Family Favorite

    Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

    Under $25

    Walk through a Victorian glasshouse of palm, orchid and desert rooms set among botanical gardens in Schenley Park.

    0.3 mi awaySwitch it up: Attractions

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Pittsburgh, PA

    Free

    Pennsylvania's second-largest city, anchored by three rivers, a storied steel heritage, and a skyline best seen from Mount Washington.

    0.7 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Museums
    Iconic

    The Andy Warhol Museum

    $25–$50

    Explore seven floors of Andy Warhol's paintings, prints, films and archives in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

    2.8 mi awayMore like this

  • Museums
    History Buff

    Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

    Under $25

    A working streetcar museum near Pittsburgh where visitors ride vintage trolleys along historic track.

    22 mi awayMore like this