Lord of the Rings Exhibition Returns to Wellington

Millions enjoyed the movie trilogy Lord of the Rings – and now residents and travellers to New Zealand have one last chance to relive the blockbuster through an encore display of LOTR memorabilia in the movie’s “home” - Wellington.

It was around Wellington that much of the movie was filmed by locally-based director Peter Jackson, and that the trilogy was premiered to the world, so it is fitting that this final exhibition – The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy – The Exhibition - is being staged in the city until 20 August.

The latest Lord of the Rings exhibition is being staged in New Zealand’s acclaimed national museum, Te Papa, and showcases a vast array of items from “The Return of the King”, including costumes, jewellery, weaponry, armour and painstakingly-created miniatures used in the movie. There are also two of the star creatures, Gollum and Shelob.

Special features, never before seen off-screen, include Aragorn’s crown and the astonishing miniature of the great fortified city Minas Tirith.

There is also a range of video interviews with director Peter Jackson, and members of the cast and crew, which explain how the epic was made, and demonstrate some of the special effects which helped to make Lord of the Rings so memorable.

There’s even a chance for visitors to try out some of the technology themselves, including the possibility of being photographed in a film set to see how scaling special effects work.

The exhibition recently returned to Wellington following a round-world tour to cities including Boston, London and Singapore, where it was viewed by more than 1 million people – but none have seen quite as much detail as there is in the current Wellington exhibition, which includes a large amount of new content.

The first version of the exhibition, which opened in Wellington in December, 2002, attracted more than 220,000 visitors, including 11,283 in its first week. Upon its return, the expanded exhibition of 2006 has proved its popularity yet again, achieving 17,152 visits in its first week – a massive increase of 52% over the previous event. And visitor numbers continue to grow.

Entry price is NZ$12 for adults, NZ$10 for concession-holders and NZ$6.50 for children.

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