Te Papa is New Zealand's national museum, on the Wellington waterfront. Pete Bossley of Jasmax Architects designed it, following bicultural principles based on the Treaty of Waitangi, and Fletcher Construction built it. It officially opened on February 14, 1998, at a cost of NZ$300 million. The building covers 390,000 square feet (36,000 m²) over six floors.
It stands on reclaimed land, where the ground was compacted to 52 feet (16 m) deep by dropping weights of up to 30 metric tons more than 50,000 times. Base isolation protects it from earthquakes, and a Quake Braker area shows the isolators. Outdoors, the Bush City area has artificial caves, native bush and wetlands. The Rongomaraeroa marae holds the meeting house Te Hono ki Hawaiki.
New Zealanders enter free. International visitors paid a $35 entrance fee as of September 2024, and some temporary exhibitions are ticketed.
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