Welcome to this month’s Blogorail Peach Loop. Today we are discussing museums that your family needs to visit.
Indiana Jones is big in our family. I grew up an Indiana Jones fan, watching the films with my Dad repeatedly, dreaming of being an archaelogist someday (my fear of spiders wound up sending me down a different career path). As soon as Connor was old enough we introduced him to Indy as well, starting with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Over the next year or so we also spent family movie nights with Raiders of the Lost Ark and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (I know, but Connor loves it). So, when we found out that the Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology traveling museum exhibit was going to be spending time in Fort Worth last summer we knew we would be making a couple of trips to experience the exhibition.
The Indiana Jones and the Adventure in Archaelogy exhibit is a really unique experience. It features information on the four Indiana Jones films, starting with Raiders of the Lost Ark and ending with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, showcasing information about the creation of the film, actual costumes and props, film clips and audio commentary. However, also included in the exhibition are rooms dedicated to real life archaeological exhibitions, archaelogists and anthroplogists, mysterys and myths that have been explored by famous scientists and much more. Participants can choose to follow the film experience only, the archaelogy experience only, or both as we did. The experience can easily be tailored to fit your needs. Connor wanted to stick pretty much just to film information, while I was keen to explore it all (and was very thankful for a return visit with my parents where me and my Dad were able to really take our time exploring the entire exhibition while Connor, Chris and my mom did a quicker walk-through focusing more on the film aspects.
Fans of Indiana Jones are treated to a lot of fun facts during the film tour sections. For example, did you know that the PG-13 film rating was actually created for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? The Motion Pictures Association of America felt that the film was too graphic and violent to match the Raiders of the Lost Ark PG rating, but not graphic enough to warrant an R rating.
Personally, I loved seeing the props and costumes on display, including Harrison Ford’s Raiders of the Lost Ark costume and the Holy Grail. Each costume and prop was accompanied by a description of the materials used to create it as well as any unique story revolving around it’s use in the films. As a theatre designer I really loved seeing construction plans, miniatures, maquettes and renderings of set pieces from the various Indiana Jones films.
The archaeological portions of the exhibition covered all sorts of different stories and digs from around the world, each one related in some way to one of the Indiana Jones films. For example, there was a room dedicated to the crop circles of South America that were referenced in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
In addition to the exhibitions, there is also an optional interactive portion of the experience. Guests can take part in collecting their own pieces of digital pottery as they progress through the exhibition portions (pieces of your digital pottery are found in both Indiana Jones and archaeology sections, encouraging guests to explore the entire show floor). Connor enjoyed collecting his pottery pieces and learning about what he was putting together on his tablet.
Indiana Jones and the Adventure in Archaelogy is currently housed at the National Geographic Museum in Washington through January 3rd. To learn more about this unique traveling exhibit check out the official page, Indiana Jones the Exhibition.
check out the other great posts from the Blogorail!
Here is the map of our Blogorail Peach | Family Adventure : Museums
- 1st Stop – Home is Where the Mouse Is | American Museum of Natural History
- 2nd Stop – Disney Nouns | The Henry Ford Museum
- 3rd Stop – Disney Mamas | Indiana Jones Travelling Exhibition
- 4th Stop – Love Our Crazy Life | Discover LV Children’s Museum
- 5th Stop – This Roller Coaster Called Life | Hershey Story
“Why did it have to be spiders?” Not quite the right line from the movie! Cool that you got to see the actual movie props. Which was your favorite one?
Just one? Eek! I’m not sure I can pick just one, but the props from Last Crusade were my favorite overall. The grail, cross and shield were so beaitufl and I really enjoyed seeing how they were constructed and out of what materials!
Cool! You know, I had never really seen the movies until a few years ago. I found a box set of dvd’s in a local thrift store (still in the wrapper) for really cheap. I thought Ian would like them, and I was right! What a fun museum exhibit!
You might want to check out the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (I think that’s what it was called)! It was a television series that last three or four seasons. I really enjoyed it when I was younger!
This looks very cool! Who doesn’t love Indiana Jones?! I like that it’s not just props from the movie, but also ties into authentic archeological sites.
It really provided a level of authenticity to the entire francise, especially since it referenced actual digs and people that were used as reference material in the films.
That sounds like such a cool exhibit! We love Indiana Jones and archaeology! I don’t think we can make it to DC before it leaves, so I’ll have to see where it is heading next.
Keep an eye on their website! Right now there is nothing listed after DC, but that’s how it was in Fort Worth as well, only referenced Fort Worth. Hopefully it will visit your local museum!
These Nat Geo traveling exhibits are awesome! We get a lot of them in Times Square. Right now we have a Hunger Games exhibit. Thanks for sharing – I know my husband would love this one.
A Hunger Games exhibit would be really interesting!
I love the idea of the interactive portion. How fun! My husband would love this exhibit.
I think my family would get totally lost in this exhibit for hours.
We would get along great then! Mine had to drag me out both times!
This is fabulous. It is so great that they can tie together both film and learning. And what little kid doesn’t like adventure!!