Carnegie Museums plan timed ticketing system for reopening next week

Carnegie Museum is scheduled to reopen next week, with museum officials requiring all visitors over age 2 to wear masks and instituting a timed ticketing system to ensure the building does not exceed 25% of its capacity.

The museum, which reopens June 29, will have directional signs for visitors and signs reminding them about social distancing.

The timed tickets must be reserved in advance and are available every 30 minutes.

The theme of protection even extends to the museum’s “Dinosaur Armor” exhibit, which focuses on 500 million years of evolutionary transformation that helped animals adapt to defend against predators.

A members-only preview of the exhibit, a world premiere, is scheduled for June 27-28.

The exhibit features actual specimens, casts and artistic representations of prehistoric invertebrates, fish, reptiles, dinosaurs and mammals.

“It’s a march through time, through the evolution and diversity of body armor and ornament in myriad prehistoric and modern creatures, from invertebrates to fishes to reptiles to mammals and even ourselves,” said Matt Lamanna, the Mary R. Dawson Associate Curator for Vertebrate Paleontology.

Tickets for “Dinosaur Armor” can be purchased in addition to regular museum admission, $5 for adults and $3 for members, children, students and seniors over 65.

The museum system also has designated visiting hours of 10 a.m. to noon for those in the high-risk category for exposure to coronavirus on the following days:

• Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History: Wednesdays.

• Carnegie Science Center: Sundays.

• Andy Warhol Museum: Tuesdays.

Museums throughout the region are working out how best to reopen as southwestern Pennsylvania continues in the “green” phase of the state’s covid-19 reopening plan.

For more on health and safety procedures, see CarnegieMuseums.org. Click here to purchase timed tickets.