Opening of Smithsonian butterfly dome delayed

WASHINGTON -- The gray dome that will be the spa-like home to a swirl of live butterflies at the National Museum of Natural History is almost complete.

But the fluttery scientific attraction, “Butterflies and Plants: Partners in Evolution,” which had been expected to open next month, has been postponed.

The delay was caused mainly by the start of the museum’s project to replace old windows, some of which date from 1907. Since the exhibit hall was being torn up for the butterfly pavilion, museum officials decided to do those 32 windows first.

Eventually all 337 windows in the museum will be replaced with a frosted double-glazed glass that was selected to be close to the originals’ appearance.

The enclosure for the butterflies, on the second floor of the historic Beaux-Arts building, is roughly 1,200 square feet and is about 80% finished. The area around the habitat, where the windows are located, will feature a 2,500-square-foot exhibit about butterflies and plants and their common evolution.

When the exhibition was announced in April, it stirred up controversy on Capitol Hill because the Smithsonian regents voted to charge $5 admission on most days for the experience of standing in a humid bath of butterflies. This was a departure from the Smithsonian’s always-free, always-open (except Christmas Day) policy. One day a week will be free.

Elsewhere in the country, operators of butterfly houses charge admission because housing the insects is expensive. Their life expectancy is short and they have to be replenished. The museum will receive live shipments once or twice a week, organizers say.

The new opening date is Feb. 14.