FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 30, 2022

It's time to go caving once again at Cincinnati Museum Center

Much-loved cave exhibit reopens this Friday

CINCINNATI – Grab your headlamps for a close-quarters descent into the world of stalactites and stalagmites. After a two-and-a-half-year closure due to COVID and necessary maintenance, Cincinnati Museum Center’s replica limestone cave reopens this weekend. The Cave will officially welcome guests beginning Friday, September 2.

Since its opening in the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History in 1967, The Cave has thrilled guests with a journey through over 500 feet of narrow twists and turns across two levels. When the museum moved to Union Terminal as part of Cincinnati Museum Center in 1990, The Cave moved with it. Fifty-five years later, the darkened passageways, cascading waterfalls and cave formations continue to delight explorers.

“The beauty of The Cave is that it truly connects you to the natural world around you in immersive, dynamic ways,” said Elizabeth Pierce, president and CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center. “It remains one of our guests’ favorite exhibits and has been the one asked about most over the past two years of COVID pivots and recovery. After some necessary prudence and needed repairs, we’re excited to welcome our community to go caving once again.”

The Cave is modeled after similar cave formations in the tri-state, including Mammoth Cave. The exhibit features two trails, allowing guests of all abilities a chance to explore. The lower trail sends you shimmying through tight corridors and down narrow stairways, while the accessible upper trail offers spectacular overlooks and opportunities for discovery. Just outside the entrance, CMC’s big brown bat colony and other cave-dwelling critters, including crickets and fish, introduce you to some of the inhabitants of Earth’s subterranean labyrinths.

The Cave is located in CMC’s Museum of Natural History & Science near the entrance to the Ice Age Gallery and the stairway to the Neil Armstrong Space Exploration Gallery, presented by the Harold C. Schott Foundation.

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About Cincinnati Museum Center
Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) at Union Terminal is a nationally recognized, award-winning institution housed in a National Historic Landmark. CMC is a vital community resource that sparks curiosity, inspiration, epiphany and dialogue. CMC was awarded the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2012, one of a select few museums in the nation to receive both honors. Organizations within CMC include the Cincinnati History Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science, Children’s Museum, Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX® Theater, Cincinnati History Library and Archives and the Geier Collections and Research Center. Housed in historic Union Terminal – a National Historic Landmark restored in 2018 and recognized as the nation’s 45th most important building by the American Institute of Architects – CMC welcomes more than 1.8 million visits annually, making it one of the most visited museums in the country. For more information, visit www.cincymuseum.org.

About Champion More Curiosity
The $85 million Champion More Curiosity campaign is shaping Cincinnati Museum Center’s future while creating generations of critical thinkers to power the innovation of our region. By Championing More Curiosity and helping build the future of Cincinnati Museum Center, you can fuel the economic prosperity of our region. Champion More Curiosity will build or reimagine over a dozen permanent exhibits and galleries and equip state-of-the-art labs for cutting-edge research for students from elementary grades to post-docs. Today’s wide-eyed explorers will be tomorrow’s innovators. We work shoulder-to-shoulder to engage our community in monumental moments of epiphany, wonder and connection. As we inspire all generations to learn, grow and thrive at Cincinnati Museum Center, we Champion More Curiosity. Consider making a lifelong impact by donating in support of Champion More Curiosity at www.supportcmc.org.