Written by Rick Weiss, CNN
(CNN) — Two Smithsonian museums are set to close for two weeks in early November due to the effects of climate change, although the Smithsonian said the closures would not be permanent.
The acquisition and holdings galleries at the Natural History Museum, one of the world’s largest museums with over 4 million visitors annually, will close for the first and second days of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 53rd annual exhibition of African art, “On African Skin: Wood, Detail and Image,” from November 8 to 18.
The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will close its galleries to staff and all other visitors for two weeks to perform renovations, also beginning November 8, until November 30.
The Smithsonian considers the Smithsonian museums it oversees to be a significant part of its mission to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.
“The resulting conservancy is being facilitated by the museum’s capital campaign, which is now at $20 million of its $220 million goal,” the Smithsonian said in a statement.
“The scientists and researchers in the collection have been encouraged to participate in the construction process and to continue with their conservation practices,” the statement continued.
The Smithsonian Corporation and its affiliate, the National Collections Management Company, are responsible for the conservation and inventory of its collections.
From the astronomical and historic to the daily and material, Americans have been interested in science, knowledge and pursuit since the beginning of the republic. The exhibit “Origins: The Natural History of the World” , which opens October 9, 2018, examines human history through an 18th-century African lens.