Public Museum Releases Details for new Rainforest Gallery, Butterfly Vivarium

The Milwaukee Public Museum released the final preview of future museum exhibits Tuesday, showing a new Rainforest Exhibit, a new Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium and a rooftop terrace.

“Our Museum has long been renowned for its immersive rainforest displays, including our world-class live butterfly garden,” said Ellen Censky, MPM President and CEO. “Thanks to the generosity of We Energies, the We Energies Foundation Gallery: Rainforest will again bring visitors to some of the most biodiverse and special places on the planet, spotlighting the rich resources and abundant life that thrives in the tropics.”

The new Rainforest gallery will replace the popular Rainforest exhibit at the current Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 W. Wells St. It will be part of the planned new five-story, 20,000-square-foot museum being designed for the corner of N. 6th St. and W. McKinley Ave. The non-profit that operates the museum, MPM Inc., has been slowly releasing previews of some of the new exhibits and galleries planned for the new $240 million museum, which is being designed by New York-based design firm Thinc Design.

The Rainforest Exhibit

Like many of the galleries in the current museum, and the new ones that have already been previewed, the We Energies Foundation Gallery: Rainforest will be an immersive experience for museum-goers, according to the museum. “Visitors will experience a dimly lit space dressed with large tree trunks and thick vegetation, and a vibrant audioscape of gentle rainfall alongside the buzz of insects, birds and other rainforest residents will help set the tropical scene.”

There will be exhibits explaining traditions and practices found in rainforests around the world, stories about venomous creatures, examples of healing ceremonies, animal specimens, live animals like tarantulas and poison dart frogs and “intricate beadwork and featherwork created in or inspired by rainforests,” the museum said.

Some of the elements of the rainforest exhibit at the existing museum will be brought over for the new one, like the large hollowed-out tree, the taxidermy howler monkey, sloth, anaconda and oropendola bird nests.

Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium

The new museum will also have a live butterfly exhibit, once again sponsored by the Puelicher Foundation, which made a donation on top of its $3 million gift in order to maintain the naming in perpetuity, according to the museum.

“A delightful, multi-sensory experience, the Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium will be home to a diverse array of living butterflies, moths and plantlife,” the museum said. The Vivarium will also offer views of the museum’s insect lab and pupae room.

Bucyrus Rooftop Terrace

A feature unique to the new museum is a rooftop terrace that will have native Wisconsin plants that change with the seasons. The terrace was designed by landscape architect at GGN, a Seattle-based firm, and was funded with a $2.5 million gift from the Bucyrus Foundation.

“In addition to space to walk around and sit among the gardens, the Terrace will function as an outdoor classroom and observation area, allowing visitors to smell, touch and see the natural world nestled right into the City of Milwaukee skyline,” the museum said.

Designs