THE SAN DIEGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Hot Pink Tourmalines, Kunzites & Fossils

At the famous Balboa Park in San Diego, just south of the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society & Museum, is the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM) — or the Nat as the locals call it. SNDNHM is one of the most significant natural history museums in the country.

- HELEN SERRAS-HERMAN

The San Diego Society of Natural History dates to 1874. In 1917, the society purchased a vacant building from the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. Later, a new building was commissioned to architect William Templeton Johnson to fit the museum’s expanding needs, and the new museum opened in 1933. It served visitors for decades, before undergoing a significant renovation. In 2001, after a nine-year and $38 million capital campaign, the museum reopened its doors. The major renovation added 90,000 square feet, more than doubling the museum’s size.

TAKING IT ALL IN

My husband and I first visited the museum in 2000, before the extensive renovation, and we truly enjoyed the collections. I was also captivated by the distinctive architecture and the highly ornamental Spanish-Renaissance freezes on the building, which, unfortunately, were eliminated during the renovation, giving way to a more modern building facade.

We returned to San Diego in 2011, when I participated in the poster session of the Gemological Institute of America’s International Gemological Symposium at close-by Carlsbad. We took the opportunity to revisit the SDNHM and thoroughly enjoyed the special exhibit “All that Glitters,” which display through April 2012.