Housed in the Harvard University campus at the University Museum building on 26 Oxford Street, the Harvard Museum of Natural History is a worthy addition to your itinerary when visiting Cambridge. Intended to display the work of three of the university’s museums – the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Harvard Mineralogical and Geological museum, and the Harvard University Herbaria – the museum’s exhibitions draw from the prestigious institution’s rich natural history collections which are perfectly complemented by the faculty’s expertise on the subject matters.

The museum is definitely worth visiting if only to view the iconic ultra realistic glass flower collection. Painstakingly crafted by glass artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka over several decades, the collection is comprised of over 4,400 glass models vividly representing hundreds of plant species. More recently, an exhibition of Blaschka’s glass models of sea creatures was added, featuring intricate lifelike models of marine animals.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is physically connected to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, so one admission grants you access to both museums!