Harvard Museums and the Glass Flowers

Although the four museums that make up this complex contain treasures such as the artifacts brought back by Lewis and Clark, for most people, the highlight is the more than 3,000 models of 830 species of flowers and plants, some with insects, and all so realistic that you will have trouble believing they are made of glass. Created between 1887 and 1936 by artisans Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, the flowers are unique in the world, and their secret process has never been replicated. These are part of Harvard's massive research collections, shown under one roof in the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, the Mineralogical Museum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Botanical Museum.

Those who like the Victorian "Cabinet of Curiosities" feel of old traditional museums will love the Pacific Islands balcony - it's like stepping back a century. The Museum of Comparative Zoology, founded by Louis Agassiz in 1859, contains an extensive collection of fossils, including a 25,000-year-old mastodon. The mineralogy collections include a dazzling display of rough and cut gemstones, a world-renowned meteorite collection, rocks, ores, and minerals from around the world. It is visiting Harvard Museums and the Glass Flowers which is one of the meaningful activities and the best things to do in Boston.

Address: 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Official site: http://hmnh.harvard.edu/

Phone: 617-495-3045

Entrance fee: adults $12; seniors and students, $10; youth ages 3–18, $8; under 3 free

Google rating: 4.7/5.0