Two dioramas produced in Cook County more than 50 years ago will be on display at the new University of Minnesota Bell Museum in St. Paul.
Devin Henry, a new PR person at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, has been working on Greater Minnesota issues and he found something many Cook County residents might find interesting.
When the University of Minnesota opens its brand new Bell Museum on the St. Paul campus next month, said Henry, “a little bit of Cook County will be front and center.”
Some of the most notable exhibits on display in the new museum are world-renowned dioramas depicting scenes of nature from locations around Minnesota, including in Cook County, he added.
“For instance, one diorama, originally completed in 1946, shows a moose in late September along Gunflint Lake. Another, completed in 1956, depicts a coniferous forest scene at the Upper Falls of the Cascade River near Grand Marais,” said Henry.
While the dioramas are gorgeous and scientifically accurate, said Henry, making this exhibition at the new Bell Museum was also a bit of an architectural feat.
“When curators began moving exhibitions from the old building to the new one, construction crews said they couldn’t do the same for the dioramas: No other museum had ever attempted to move dioramas of this size, age and method of construction before.”
“But we made it happen. The restored and repaired dioramas will be on display when the new Bell Museum holds its grand opening on July 14,” Henry said.
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