Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum

Located in the Nagaoyama General Park (Katsuyama Dinosaur Forest), this natural history museum has exhibits centering on dinosaurs.

The museum is nationally renowned as a treasure trove of dinosaur fossils and is one of the largest in the world.

Worldwide, it is considered one of the three major dinosaur museums, along with the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Canada and the Drikung Dinosaur Museum in China, and is one of the leading dinosaur museums in Japan.

The spacious exhibition space is filled with dinosaur skeletons, fossils, specimens, dioramas, and reconstructed models, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with these powerful dinosaurs.

There is a wealth of exhibits on the world of dinosaurs, the science of the earth, the history of life, and the dinosaurs of Katsuyama City.

In addition, the silver domed exhibition hall features more than 30 full-body skeletons of dinosaurs and other valuable specimens, a huge diorama, and a powerful dino theater (200-inch face-to-face screen), providing fun for children and adults alike.

Fossils of not only dinosaurs but also crocodiles, turtles, fish, freshwater shellfish, and terrestrial plants have been discovered in the Chatan Formation of the Tedori Group (Lower Chalk System) in Chatan-cho, Katsuyama City near the museum.

This fossil excavation site has been open to the public as part of the Open-Air Dinosaur Museum since 2014 and can be visited.

In addition, the entire Katsuyama City area has been recognized as a Japan Geopark as the Dinosaur Valley Fukui Katsuyama Geopark.

Furthermore, fossil specimens of five new species of dinosaurs discovered in Katsuyama and their excavation sites have been designated as National Natural Monuments (Geology and Mineralogy) and recognized for their academic importance.

The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (FPDM) consists of two exhibition sections: the permanent exhibition and the special exhibition.

The permanent exhibition hall (Dinosaur Hall) is a huge, dome-shaped, pillarless space measuring 84 meters long by 55 meters short, 4,500 square meters wide, with a ceiling height of approximately 37 meters, and is divided into three zones.

In the “Dinosaur World” zone, 44 dinosaur skeletons are on display. Among them are the whole-body skeletons of Fukuisaurus, Fukuiraptor, and Fukuibenator, all of which were excavated in Fukui Prefecture.

In the “Science of the Earth” zone, the history of earth science, terrestrial and marine sediments, fossils, rocks, and minerals are on display.

In the “History of Life” zone, dioramas show the evolution of life over the 4.6 billion years of the Earth’s history and the relationship between vertebrates and plants that have made their way onto land.

Visitors can also experience the age of the dinosaurs using dinosaur robots and a 200-inch face-to-face screen.

Fossil excavation and cleaning operations are conducted throughout the year, some of which can be viewed in the open-air dinosaur museum and fossil cleaning room.

In the Dinosaur Hall, 44 full-body skeletons of dinosaurs are on display. Ten of these skeletons are assembled from actual fossil bones. You can judge the exhibits by the presence or absence of the label “Reproductions,” and descriptions of the actual items can be found in the museum’s distributed user guide.

The Camarasaurus, in particular, was assembled from bones excavated in the United States after cleaning work at the museum.

In the wing building, there is a “dinolab” where visitors can observe the huge skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus up close, an auditorium where dinosaur-themed movies are shown, and a special exhibition room.

The Open-Air Dinosaur Museum is located near the excavation site of the fossil excavation, with displays of actual fossils and an observation plaza at the excavation site. Visitors can also take a tour on a special bus, where they can experience the excavation process by tapping stones to unearth fossils.

The history of the excavation, the workings, and the fossil footprints are also introduced through a video, and when the tour is over, visitors can see the excavation site outside.