Houston Museum of Natural Science

The Houston Museum of Natural Science (abbreviated as HMNS) is a natural history museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, United States. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston focusing on education and science. The museum complex consists of a central facility with four floors of natural science halls and exhibits, the Burke Baker Planetarium, the Cockrell Butterfly Center, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre (formerly known as the Wortham IMAX Theatre). In 2024, the museum received 1,547,000 visitors, making it the eleventh most-visited museum in the United States and the third most-visited science museum in the U.S. HMNS is the most visited museum in the country outside of the New York City or Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas. Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.