As well as being a wonderful resource for researchers, the National Library has various exhibition spaces including the Turnbull Gallery, displaying rare books and ephemera. The highlight is He Tohu (The Signs), opened in 2017 to house three of NZ's most treasured documents: the 1835 Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of NZ, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi and the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition. Interesting multimedia displays outline the significance of these documents to the nation.
National Library of New Zealand
Wellington
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
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For an imaginative, interactive experience of Wellington’s social and maritime history, head to this bewitching little museum, inside an 1892 bond store…
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This groundbreaking ecosanctuary is nooked into a valley in the hills about 2km west of downtown Wellington. Living wild within the fenced, predator-free…
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These hilly, 25-hectare botanic gardens can be effortlessly visited via the Wellington Cable Car (nice bit of planning, eh?), although there are several…
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The city's most impressive viewpoint is atop 196m-high Mt Victoria (Matairangi), east of the city centre. You can take bus 20 most of the way up, but the…
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New Zealand's national museum is hard to miss, taking up a sizeable chunk of the Wellington waterfront. ‘Te Papa Tongarewa’ loosely translates as …
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Academy Award–winning special-effects and props company Weta Workshop has been responsible for bringing the likes of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit,…
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New Zealand might be a young country but it has one of the oldest continuously functioning parliaments in the world and has chalked up more than its share…
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Housed in the monumental old library in Civic Sq (the new library is next door), Wellington’s much-loved City Gallery does a cracking job of securing…
Nearby Wellington attractions
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Ngā Taonga is a vortex of NZ moving images into which you could get sucked for days. Its library holds tens of thousands of titles: feature films,…
2. Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
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At 88m long and 18m high, this modern Anglican cathedral exudes quasi-Moorish architectural vibes inside its lofty interiors. It first opened its doors in…
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New Zealand might be a young country but it has one of the oldest continuously functioning parliaments in the world and has chalked up more than its share…
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Designed by Rev Fred Thatcher, the first vicar of Wellington, this wonderfully woody former Anglican cathedral (1866) is well worth a look. Despite its…
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Across the road from Parliament, this grand Italianate structure (1876) is the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere, although it does a…
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Lost beneath a canopy of oak and pohutukawa, between freeway off-ramps and apartment towers, this fabulously dank and atmospheric remnant dates back to…
7. Katherine Mansfield House & Garden
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Often compared to Chekhov and Maupassant, Katherine Mansfield was one of NZ’s most distinguished authors, who pushed the short-story form to uncharted…
8. New Zealand Portrait Gallery
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Housed in a heritage red-brick warehouse on the waterfront, this estimable gallery presents a diverse range of NZ portraiture and caricature from its own…