Dinosaur Isle is a purpose-built dinosaur museum located on the Isle of Wight in southern England.
The museum was designed by Isle of Wight architects Rainey Petrie Johns in the shape of a giant pterosaur. It claims to be the first custom-built dinosaur museum in Europe. The £2.7 million cost of the museum was provided by Isle of Wight Council and the National Lottery Millennium Commission. Dinosaur Isle opened to visitors on 20 August 2001.
The museum features numerous replica fossils and life-sized models of Iguanodon, Polacanthus, Eotyrannus and Neovenator - the latter is animatronic. The Neovenator was discovered and named by the museum's curator Steve Hutt. Guests are given the opportunity to speak to experts and watch them at work.
Read more about Dinosaur Isle: History, Collections
Famous quotes containing the word isle:
“It is so rare to meet with a man outdoors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands. Behind every man’s busy-ness there should be a level of undisturbed serenity and industry, as within the reef encircling a coral isle there is always an expanse of still water, where the depositions are going on which will finally raise it above the surface.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)