Northwestern Alberta's Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum rakes in awards

Accolades forworld renowned Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Wembley, Alta.continue to pile up.

The $34-million museum, which opened amid much fanfare last September, was ranked byCondeNastTraveller asone of the 10 best museum openingsover the last year worldwide.

Conde Nast,one of the world's premier travel magazines, rankedthemuseum20 km west of Grande Prairiein the company of such institutions asthe San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and London's NewTate Modern.

It wasthe only museum on the list from Canada.

Therecognitioncomes on the heels of several awards celebrating the museum'sinnovation, design, civic reach, engineering, architecture, among others eight different awards since opening.

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"The museum design draws on an abstraction of the paleontological excavation experience and interior displays use augmented reality platforms and fractal screens to bring to life animated dinosaurs placed in interactive ecosystems," the magazine saysin a news release.

The museum's mandate istoincreaseawarenessaboutdinosaurs through educational programs, including onsite programs for children, summer dinosaur bone bed tours, helicopter tours toremote fossil sites, distance educationand lecture series.

The Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum was rankedseventh on a list of the biggest museum openings in the world,listed just ahead ofChina's Shanghai Natural History Museum.

While the awards are a welcomerecognition, the institution is helping to increase paleo-tourism in the region, said spokespersonNoraWeber.

"It's sitting on one of the densest dinosaur beds in the world, a gold mine of dinosaur bones in Alberta," Weber said.