Waikato Museum, Regional museum in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato stands at 1 Grantham Street on the west bank of the Waikato River in central Hamilton. Ivan Mercep of Jasmax, later the architect of Te Papa, designed the building, which opened in 1987; its interior and exterior are oriented toward the steep riverbank. Inside are galleries for art, social history, science and tangata whenua, including the Te Winika waka taua and Fred Graham's Te Mauri o te Iwi waharoa sculpture.

The Waikato Museum of Art and History opened in its current Grantham Street building in 1987, designed by Ivan Mercep of JASMad Group, who later worked on Te Papa. It realised years of planning for a combined regional museum and gallery. The institution was later renamed Te Whare Taonga o Waikato to honour Tainui, on whose Ngaati Wairere land it stands.

The museum gives space to local artists alongside taonga, which are Māori treasured objects, displayed in a way that reflects the living culture of the region. Walking through the galleries, visitors can see how Māori identity and community life in the Waikato are woven into the way stories are told here.

The museum is on Grantham Street, right next to the Waikato River, and easy to find on foot from the center of Hamilton. Allowing two to three hours gives enough time to move through the different floors at a comfortable pace.

The museum holds a waka taua, a traditional Māori war canoe, that ranks among the largest of its kind in New Zealand. This object offers one of the most direct connections to Māori history in the Waikato that visitors can see up close.