Founded in 1889 by Charles R. Bishop as a memorial to his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the museum began as a repository for the royal possessions of this last direct descendant of King Kamehameha the Great. Today it's the Hawai'i State Museum of Natural and Cultural History and houses more than 24.7 million items that tell the history of the Hawaiian Islands and their Pacific neighbors.
The latest addition to the complex is a natural science wing with state-of-the-art interactive exhibits. Venerable but sadly aging Hawaiian Hall, which is slated for a multimillion-dollar renovation, houses Polynesian artifacts: lustrous feather capes, the skeleton of a giant sperm whale, photography and crafts displays, and an authentic, well-preserved grass house inside a two-story 19th-century Victorian style gallery.
Also check out the planetarium, daily hula and Hawaiian crafts demonstrations, special exhibits, and the Shop Pacifica. The building alone, with its huge Victorian turrets and immense stone walls, is worth seeing.