June 5, 2009

Discovery Times Square Expo to open with Titanic, Lucy

(Update: The Discovery Times Square Exposition is now open and exhibitions are priced separately - so a ticket to both is close to $50.)

Discovery Times Square Exposition will open June 24 in the former New York Times building with a pair of blockbuster exhibitions on the Titanic and the 3.2 million-year-old hominid fossil known as Lucy.

“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” will likely open next year, with more artifacts than have been displayed on its tour thus far, including its 2007 exhibition at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute.

The Discovery Times Square Exposition site will open on on 44th Street in a 60,000 square-foot space that formerly housed the New York Times’ printing presses, organizers said Thursday. It will hold two major gallery halls, learning centers, a special event space, a cafe, and a store.

Admission to the initial exhibitions — “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” and “Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia,” — will be priced at $19.50 for adults, $18.50 for seniors and $17.50 for children.

Discovery Times Square Exposition will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Discovery Channel is opening the space with Running Subway Productions LLC, which is also responsible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in SoHo, the Broadway staging of “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical,” and “Bodies…The Exhibition” at the South Street Seaport. As a result of a 2008 agreement with the New York state Attorney General, a sign was posted at the Bodies exhibition stating organizers “cannot independently verify that the human remains you are viewing are not those of persons who were incarcerated in Chinese prisons,” and refunds were offered to everyone who had attended the show since it opened in New York in 2005.

NPR notes the upcoming Lucy exhibit is also controversial because “major museums have refused offers to exhibit it after scientists expressed concern that the fragile fossil could be irreparably damaged.”

Running Subway has taken out a 20-year lease on the renovated Times Square space, according to the NY Times.

Earlier: Will 3 million-year-old ‘Lucy’ visit New York?

June 5, 2009 8:30 AM in History, Kids, Midtown, Museums, Sightsology

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