Bishop Museum

1525 Bernice St, Honolulu, HI

Last updated 8/27/2026

The Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in memory of his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last direct descendant of the Kamehameha royal line, and it holds the largest collection of Hawaiian and Pacific Island cultural artifacts and natural history specimens anywhere in the world. Princess Pauahi's own personal collection of royal Hawaiian artifacts, including feather cloaks and other objects passed down through the Kamehameha dynasty, forms the founding core of the museum's collection, giving it a direct material connection to the Hawaiian monarchy that few other institutions can claim. The museum's Hawaiian Hall, housed in a Victorian-era building of native koa wood, was extensively renovated in the 2000s to modernize its exhibits while preserving the historic three-story gallery structure, and the museum's planetarium and natural science wings have expanded its scope well beyond purely cultural history. For a Honolulu attractions list, the Bishop Museum is the essential "the Kamehameha dynasty's own collection" entry — an 1889 museum built around a princess's personal royal artifacts, still the largest single repository of Hawaiian and Pacific cultural history anywhere in the world.

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