Smithsonian Dinosaur Hall to Close for Five Years for Rennovation

More than 65 million years after they went extinct, dinosaurs are about to disappear again — at least from public view in Washington.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History said Friday that its high-traffic dinosaur hall will close April 28 for a previously announced $48 million makeover. Most of the popular specimens won’t reappear until 2019, when the Fossil Hall at the world’s second-most-visited museum is reopened.

Once completed, the 31,000-square-foot hall will have a new centerpiece: the Wankel T. rex, one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever unearthed.

“Those five years are going to fly by,” promised museum director Kirk Johnson, who didn’t sound fully convinced. “It’s definitely going to be traumatic for me, because I’m a paleontologist. . . . I’m also thinking of the kids who won’t be able to see the dinosaurs.”

link.