A Hawaiian Cultural Activity Center Make plans to visit the new Bishop Museum at Kalia. This museum showcases the rich history and customs of the Hawaiian people, and tells the story of life in Waikiki. For more information about the Bishop Museum, visit their Web site at www.bishopmuseum.org.

	About the Center		Exhibit of Hawaiian Artifacts
	The Hawaiian Exhibit Story		The Activities Area

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About the Center

Bishop Museum at Kalia is a partnership between the prestigious Bishop Museum and the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop, in memory of his wife Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha dynasty.

The Bishop Museum at Kalia occupies 8,560 square feet in the resort's new Kalia Tower. The Center tells the story of life in Waikiki for both commoners and the Ali'i, using cultural interpreters, music and dance, priceless artifacts from the Museum's collections and unique activities. There is a nominal admission charge for entry to the Center. A Hawaiiana shop specializes in one-of-a-kind, handcrafted merchandise from the Islands.

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Exhibit of Hawaiian Artifacts

Artifacts from the collection of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum are used in exhibits. This exhibit showcases finely crafted wooden bowls, utensils and stone implements used during pre- and post-European contact periods. Also featured are the fabrics created from the bark of the mulberry tree, historic surfboards, exquisite feather lei and capes belonging to Hawaiian nobility, as well as personal artifacts from Hawaii's Victorian monarchs.

The artifacts selected reflect the excellence achieved in Hawaiian workmanship. These artifacts are used to support the stories that will be shared by the Center's cultural interpreters.

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The Hawaiian Exhibit Story

The story of the Hawaiian Culture is told beginning with the bold Polynesian migration to the Islands in A.D. 400, and continues with an exhibit of artifacts related to the daily life of the Hawaiian people and their Ali'i including fishing, farming and recreational implements.

A showcase of artifacts and memorabilia allows an intimate view of the Hawaiian Monarchy from 1795 through 1893. A special section is dedicated to the visionary King David Kalakaua whose ambition was to bring modern technology and ideas to his tiny island kingdom. Kalakaua was the first monarch from any nation to travel around the world.

The exhibit culminates with a look at the more modern history of world-renowned Waikiki.

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The Activities Area

When you visit the Bishop Museum at Kalia, you will be invited throughout the day to participate in an array of hands-on activities. These activities demonstrate the Hawaiian love for land and sea and how they go about caring for it on a daily basis. In fact, the Bishop Museum at Kalia itself is a celebration of the Hawaiian Culture and its Spirit of Aloha. (Activities subject to change.)

A Garden Tour
You will be able to tour the surrounding gardens where native plants and trees grow. You will learn how these plants were used for sustenance and for medicinal purposes. Cultural interpreters will share stories and legends associated with these trees and plants.

Stories of Life at Sea
Children will be able to sit in a stylized outrigger canoe and hear the stories of courageous seafarers who braved months at sea and starvation to reach Hawaii from the South Pacific.

Hawaiian Arts and Crafts
Other hands-on activities include: music and dance implement making, the various styles and meaning of flower and seed lei making, the creation of cordage from coconut fibers, the making of kapa (mulberry bark fabric) used as clothing and bedding material.

Navigation by Stars
A special Hawaiian Stars and Skies demonstration will introduce you to the art of celestial navigation. You'll learn how the ancient seafarers charted the stars to find their way to Hawaii.

Hawaiian Sounds Listen to the haunting sounds of the pahu (shark skin drum), ipu heke (double gourd drum), ohe hano ihu (nose flute), uli uli (feathered gourd rattle) in the Hawaiian Sounds demonstration. You can even try your hand at playing one of these instruments and at learning basic motions of the traditional hula.

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