02 · GALLERY
Five frames.
The Bishop Museum's Hawaiian Hall is a three-storey 1889 Romanesque-revival building constructed from local lava-stone, the most-considered space dedicated to Polynesian material culture anywhere. The interior is lined with koa-wood display cases worth more than the original building. A full-size sperm-whale skeleton is suspended over the central gallery and acts as an unintended acoustic baffle. Monthly Hawaiian-music nights host kani ka pila (slack-key) sessions among the artefacts. Late afternoon, when the gallery skylight lights the koa cases warm, is the room's photographed peak.
Late afternoon for the skylight on the koa cases. Monthly Hawaiian-music nights are programmed irregularly; check the museum's events calendar.
A 19th-century hall built specifically to house Polynesian material culture, used today as a living venue.
Monthly Hawaiian-music nights at Hawaiian Hall (third Friday typically). The Bishop Museum's Festival of Pacific Arts programming runs in February-March. Daily admission for the museum itself.
Museum daily 09:00 to 17:00. Closed Christmas Day. Hawaiian Hall music nights monthly, 18:00 to 21:00.
From Waikiki, 20 minutes by taxi north-west to Kalihi. TheBus route 2 from Waikiki to Kapalama Loop, then ten-minute walk. From Honolulu airport, 15 minutes by taxi.