The L. Gale Lemerand Wing features the Cuban Foundation Museum, the Prehistory of Florida Gallery, and exhibits on African Art and Weaponry from around the world. The L. Gale Lemerand Wing also contains several locations for rotating temporary and traveling exhibitions.
Megalodon: Largest Shark that Ever Lived
Open February 3, 2024 through July 21, 2024
Enter the world of Megalodon, the gigantic prehistoric shark that once commanded the world’s oceans! Be consumed with awe walking through a full-scale sculptural replica of the 60-foot-long apex predator, and explore the life of this fantastic ancient creature.
Learn about Megalodon and how new scientific discoveries continue to reveal its remarkable story, including its enormous size, diet, relatives, evolution, and ultimate extinction. The object-rich exhibit features real fossil specimens, full-scale models of ancient and modern sharks, and tooth-shaped display units with actual Megalodon fossils.
The Megalodon exhibit was produced by the Florida Museum of Natural History with support from the National Science Foundation.
The Cuban Foundation Museum is home to one of the most important collections of Cuban fine and folk art outside of Cuba. The collection chronicles 300 years of Cuban history and art in more than 200 objects.
The Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS) has dedicated a portion of the museum to the prehistory of Florida. This section of the Museum includes preserved insects and butterflies, shells and teeth, along with the remains of a giant ground sloth, mastodon, and glyptodont that were found in our own backyard!
The various pieces of armor and variety of weapons and firearms in this gallery represent the artistic merit and function of weaponry of the past. From hunting to organized warfare and courtly life; from the ivory-inlaid German crossbow to the murderous Napoleonic swords, muskets and sabers on dipslay, these important objects were created from exquisit woods and steel with silver inlay, gold and other precious materials brought together by fine craftsmanship and beauty of form.
The African tribal objects in this gallery, are part of a significantly larger number of artifacts gathered and donated to the Museum during the 1980's. In their historic homeland, in isolated and highly organized communities these items originally played vital roles in daily events; for example in ceremonies for celebration, initiation from childhood into adulthood, preparation for war or harvesting.