Museum - Animal Crossing: New Horizons Guide - IGN (2024)

This Animal Crossing New Horizons guide details everything you need to know about the Museum. The museum in ACNH is a Facility that displays every Bug, Fish, Painting, Art, and Fossil you donate to Blathers, the museum curator. In New Horizons, you need to unlock the Museum, and can eventually upgrade it with an Art Wing and a café. This page also covers how to move the museum!

Looking for something in particular? Be sure to click the links below to jump to...

• How to Unlock the Museum in New Horizons
• Inside the Museum
  • The Museum Lobby
  • Bug Guide: Bugs List, Sell Price, and Bug Catching Tips
  • Fish Guide: Fish List, Sell Price, and Fishing Tips
  • Sea Creatures Guide: Sea Creature List, Sell Price
  • Redd Art Guide: Real and Fake Paintings and Sculptures
• How to Upgrade the Museum: Art and The Roost
  • How to Get the Art Exhibit Wing
  • How to Get Brewster's Coffee Shop
• Museum Stamp Rally
• How to Move the Museum
• The Museum in Previous Animal Crossing Games

How to Unlock the Museum in New Horizons

To have a Museum, you must also have Blathers. See the Blathers page for more detailed information about how to get Blathers to move to your island.

Follow these five steps to unlock the Museum and upgrade it from a tent to a building:

1. Give Tom Nook 5 Bugs and/or Fish inside the Resident Services Tent.
2. At Tom's request, determine a site to place the Museum tent for Blathers to move in.
3. The next day, Blathers will move to your island.
4. Talk to Blathers to learn how to make a Shovel - make it to dig for Fossils.
5. Give Blathers 10 Bugs, Fish, and/or Fossils. He'll then announce that he'll upgrade the Museum tent.
6. Blathers will close the Museum for the next day, meaning you cannot donate any new finds or assess any Fossils during that time.
7. On the day after that, the Museum building will be open!

Inside the Museum

The Museum Lobby

The museum is much bigger on the inside than it looks in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Inside, Bugs will be displayed on the left, Fish are on the right, and Fossils are down the stairs in front of you.

As you donate these three items to the Museum, you'll eventually unlock an Art Wing via a doorway at the top of the stairs, and then Brewster's café, The Roost, to the left of the Art Wing. We cover how to unlock these in the sections below.

To assess Fossils and donate more Fish, Bugs, or Fossils (or to learn more about ones you've already donated) speak to Blathers and ask him to take a look at your find. If your donation is new, it can be chosen from your Inventory and added to the Museum!

Always assess Fossils before selling them! In their normal "blue and white" state, Fossils only sell for a small amount of Bells. After Blathers assesses them, however, they can be sold for a much higher amount of Bells, which is very helpful for practically any player.

The ultimate goal of the Museum is to complete the five types of donations: Bugs, Fish, Sea Creatures, Fossils and Art. As of Update 2.0, you'll get a reward for doing this: a Poster which you can hang on the wall!

Bug Guide: Bugs List, Sell Price, and Bug Catching Tips

The section linked below goes over the Bugs in ACNH, including how to catch Bugs, as well as a checklist of all 80 Bugs in the game. It also details what time of day and when in the year you can spot them.

• Bug Guide: Bugs List, Sell Price, and Bug Catching Tips

Fish Guide: Fish List, Sell Price, and Fishing Tips

The section linked below covers all the Fish-related topics in the game, including how to catch fish, and a checklist of all 80 Fish in the game. It also goes over when in the year and what time of day they're available to catch.

• Fish Guide: Fish List, Sell Price, and Fishing Tips

Sea Creatures Guide: Sea Creature List, Sell Price

The section linked below covers the Sea Creature topics in the game, including how to catch them and a checklist of all 40 Sea Creatures in the game, including at what time of day and when in the year they're available to catch. Sea Creatures were added in the July Summer Update in 2020.

• Sea Creatures Guide: Sea Creature List, Sell Price

Redd Art Guide: Real and Fake Paintings and Sculptures

The section linked below covers the Art wing of the museum. This includes how to get Art from both Redd's Treasure Trawler and his setup at Harv's Campsite. Most importantly, it also has a complete checklist for all 43 pieces of art, with comparisons between genuine art and forgeries.

• Redd Art Guide: Real and Fake Paintings and Sculptures

While the Museum initially starts out with wings for Bugs, Fish, Sea Creatures and Fossils, the Art Wing must be unlocked. As well, a fifth area can also be unlocked: a café known as The Roost. The next section explains how to unlock them both.

How to Get the Art Exhibit Wing

As of Update 1.2.0, Blathers will also accept works of art as donations - but only once you've progressed far enough into your other museum donations for Blathers to add an Art Wing.

In order for Blathers to begin accepting Art, you will need to donate a total of 60 Bugs, Fish, and/or Fossils to the Museum. These include the donations made to Tom Nook at the start of your deserted island adventure, as well as the 15 donations Blathers requires to build a proper Museum building. That means that once the Museum is upgraded from a tent to a building, you will need 40 more donations.

Once you've hit this milestone, Blathers will tell you on the next day that he has begun taking donations for works of Art - although he has no place to display them just yet. Luckily, you're likely to hear the very next day that a suspicious individual has been seen sailing around the nearby islands.

Once you've gotten this announcement, search your island to find Redd (who usually hangs out by the beaches), and he'll sweet talk you into trying to buy a painting for a crazy price - and then give you that sweet-yet-shady family discount.

Take him up on his offer (don't worry, this one is genuine), and then donate it to Blathers at the Museum. With a painting in hand, he'll finally be able to begin the process of upgrading the Museum to hold a grand Art Wing on the second floor - which will take a full day to construct. This works just like when the Museum upgraded from a tent to a building, so make sure to get any further donations and Fossil assessments done now!

After Blathers has finished construction of the Art Wing, continue to be on the lookout for Redd. He can appear in one of two places: on your island or at Harv's Campsite. Here's what you need to know about both:

• Redd has a random chance of appearing at the tiny beach on the North side of your island during the week - getting to this beach will require the use of a Ladder or some Vines, or Terraforming via the Island Designer. Here, Redd will have three pieces of furniture and four pieces of art. Be sure to visit our page on identifying authentic art to make sure you aren't scammed!
• Redd can also appear at Harv's Campsite. Talk to the second Gyroid on the right side of the campsite and donate a total of 100,000 Bells. The next day, Redd will set up shop. He will only have two pieces of Art here, but after buying one, it will be replaced the next day, meaning it might be worth buying fakes for the chance of a genuine piece appearing the next day.

Time Traveler's Notice: While the stock on Redd's boat is randomly chosen on the day it appears on your island, Redd's stock at Harv's Campsite only changes each Monday. This means that Time Travel only affects Redd's stock at Harv's Campsite when you travel to a Monday.

Upon speaking to Redd once more, he'll invite you to go and board his Treasure Trawler to see more of his wares, and open up his shop for all future visits, which include buying 1 of 4 works of art each time you visit, just remember to choose carefully, lest you buy a forgery!

How to Get Brewster's Coffee Shop

As of Update 2.0, it's now possible to unlock Brewster's coffee shop, The Roost. This involves a minor side quest, which has a few pre-requisites before you can start it:

• Achieve a 3-Star Island Rating. If you don't have this yet, visit the How to Get A 3 Star Town Rating page.
• Unlock the Art Wing. This process is described in the section above, but in short, you'll need to have donated a total of 60 Bugs, Fish and/or Sea Creatures to Blathers. Unlocking the Art Wing will allow Redd to appear and help you complete the next step.
• Donate at least one of every kind of item to the Museum. This means donating at least one Bug, Fish, Sea Creature, and a piece of authentic Art. To learn how to get authentic Art, visit our Redd Art Guide page, including how to visit him on Harv's Island.
• Have the 2.0 Update or newer version installed.

Once you've met these requirements, leave the Museum, then re-enter it. You'll find Blathers pondering about his old friend Brewster. He'll give you his Photo (which you can then put on display!), then send you on a quest to find him on one of Kapp'n's Mysterious Islands.

Kapp'n can be found at the end of your island's pier (the one in either the South-West or South-East corner of your island). Pay 1,000 Bells, and you'll set sail.

Luckily, Brewster is always on the first island you visit, and is wandering around it much like Villagers can be. Talk to him and make sure to relay Blather's message.

With that done, return to the Museum and talk to Blathers to say you found Brewster. He's delighted with the news of a café, but says that the Museum will be closed for one day while the shop is added. This works just like when you upgraded the Museum from a tent to a building, or adding the Art Wing, so get those donations and Fossil Evaluations in now while you can!

Once two days have passed, you can enter the Museum and find The Roost, just the left of the door to the Art Wing! Like the Museum, The Roost is open 24 hours a day, meaning you'll always be able to sit down and have a cup of Joe's.

For information on what you can do at The Roost, be sure to visit our Brewster's Café hub!

Museum Stamp Rally

The Museum Stamp Rally is a minor limited-time event in honor of International Museum Day, and is held from May 18th to May 31st. You'll know when the event begins because Isabelle will mention it during the morning announcement.

To begin the event, talk to Blathers in the Museum lobby. Talk to him, and he'll explain that you'll need to find three Stamp Stations in each of the four wings of the Museum (this includes the Art Wing if you've unlocked it!). These stations are not too complicated to find, almost always being in plain sight.

Once you've collected all three stamps in a wing of the Museum, return to Blathers and talk to him to get his literal seal of approval. Once you've done that, Blathers will give you a replica of the golden plaque that hangs above the entrance to that wing of the Museum!

How to Move the Museum

To move the Museum in ACNH, you have to Upgrade Resident Services from a tent to a building first. This requires you to complete the early portion of the game and fully move out of the "tent phase". This is done by doing the following:

1. Paying off your debt
2. Upgrading your House
3. Unlocking Nook's Cranny
4. Building a Bridge
5. Filling three new houses, to have a total of five Villagers.

Visit the How to Upgrade Resident Services page for more information on how to do all this.

Once Resident Services is expanded, speak to Tom Nook. It will cost you 10,000 Bells, allowing you to move the Museum building with a kit, just like when you originally placed the Museum.

If you change your mind, simply talk to Tom Nook again: tell him you've had second thoughts, and he'll refund the Bells and take back the placement kit.

Previously, the cost of moving the Museum (and any other building) was 50,000 Bells. As of Update 2.0 in November 2021, it now costs 10,000 Bells.

The Museum in Previous Animal Crossing Games

The Museum is a building in previous Animal Crossing games that houses players' collection of fossils, fish, insects and art caught and donated to Blathers, the owl caretaker of the facility.

The Museum also includes Brewster's coffee shop, whereas previous games included constellation-viewing with Celeste, Blathers' younger sister.