Museum

Learn how to unlock Blathers, donate creatures and fossils, and upgrade your museum with an art gallery in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

This page offers information on how to unlock the different stages of the museum in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Unlocking Blathers

To have Blathers come to your island, you will need to donate five creatures to Nook. Each time, Nook will also reward you:

• 1 Creature: Critterpedia app
• 2 Creatures: DIY Recipes: Logstakes, Birdhouse, Tiki Torch, Bonfire and Flimsy Axe
• 3 Creatures: Flower seed bags (different to your native flowers)
• 4 Creatures: Watering Can DIY Recipe
• 5 Creatures: Blathers will call Tom Nook and ask to move to your island.

Once Blathers calls Tom Nook, Nook will give you a tent kit to set up Blathers’ research tent. Choose a location carefully, as moving it later will cost bells. After choosing the location, inform Nook.

Opening a Museum

To open a Museum, you need to donate fifteen specimens (bugs, fish, or fossils) to Blathers. He will assess fossils and identify them. You can choose to take back a fossil, but it is recommended to donate it for display. Fossils can be sold for bells if they are duplicates.

After showing Blathers the first fossil, all subsequent fossils must be assessed before donation. If it's a duplicate, he'll return it; otherwise, he'll ask for it for the museum's fossil exhibition. Donating fifteen different specimens may take time as you can only donate one at a time. Once completed, Blathers can open the museum. You cannot donate further specimens until construction is complete.

The museum will be built two days after donating the fifteenth specimen. Blathers will be unavailable the day after the donation due to construction.

Opening an Art Gallery

For an art exhibition, you must have donated 60 different specimens to Blathers. After Blathers announces his wish to display art, a character named Redd will usually appear on your island the following day.

Redd will initially wander your island. Later, he will be found on his boat docked at the secret island on the north coast. The first art piece you buy from Redd will always be real. Future purchases require checking for fakes. Each art piece costs 4,980 Bells.

After buying your first art piece, donate it to Blathers at the museum to open the new Art exhibition.

Consider holding a ceremony with your neighbors to celebrate each upgrade.