The new California Academy of Sciences opened Saturday after years of anticipation, and much has changed at the historic San Francisco museum.

Founded in 1853, the California Academy of Sciences was the first scientific institution in the west. After the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, parts of the building in Golden Gate Park were closed due to seismic damage. Plans were drafted to overhaul the museum.

Construction began in 2005, while the exhibits and staff moved to a temporary home south of Market.

The new museum was designed to mirror the surrounding environment. Renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano chose a design that mimics the nearby hills and open spaces of San Francisco. The museum’s environmentally sustainable design is crowned by an undulating living roof covered with native plants that will provide insulation, storm runoff and — it is hoped — a popular habitat for local birds and insects.

The museum’s dedication to the environment is equally evident inside. The California Academy of Sciences has reoriented its approach, with a focus on current environmental concerns and themes. Interactive displays are key for the museum, as the academy strives to remain relevant in a world where TV, video games and computers reign supreme. To that end, museum leaders have created several intricate and visually stunning exhibits.

The aquarium features state-of-the-art design and presentation, including a Northern California Coast exhibit highlighting the state’s marine diversity, complete with moray eels, a giant Pacific octopus and a 165-pound sea bass.

But the most spectacular exhibit in the aquarium is the Philippine Coral Reef. This 212,000-gallon tank features the world’s deepest living coral reef display and is home to 2,000 varieties of reef fish. Standing in front of this amazing exhibit is like witnessing an aquatic fireworks show. The amount of diversity packed into this one exhibit is overwhelming. A must-see.

Nearby is what will probably become the main draw for the museum: The Rainforest of the World exhibit. Four stories high, the exhibit takes visitors through the rainforests of Borneo, Madagascar, the Amazon and Costa Rica. Housed in an enormous closed dome, the rainforests are a steamy, dripping, thriving terrarium with ants, bats, frogs, chameleons and geckos. Butterflies and birds flit about among trees and plants that will continue to grow and change the exhibit over time.

Below it all is a glass tunnel that lets visitors view the Amazonian fish while nearby, the rainforests most notorious creatures, anacondas and piranhas, are on display.

Also revamped is the Morrison Planetarium. Featuring the most accurate digital representation of the universe yet, the planetarium features a new show called “Fragile Planet,” which takes audiences from the living roof of the academy to the uncharted depths of space between our own galaxy and those beyond.

Dizzying in its realism, the show can be a bit overwhelming. Those with vertigo should beware.

As much as the academy has changed, many traditional exhibits remain.

African Hall has been rebuilt much like it used to be, but with slight tweaks on the traditional display of taxidermy animals from far-off lands. The addition of a live penguin display will be a a crowd-pleaser, as will a miniature herd of elephants that stomp through one particular display.

The old Steinhart Aquarium’s swamp with alligators and snapping turtles now features a rare albino alligator (from the sewers of New York?), and an area downstairs for underwater viewing of the reptiles.

Fans of the old academy will note many absences, however. The dinosaur displays are almost all gone, with only the skeleton of the T-Rex remaining. Foucault’s Pendulum still swings in the museum, but the Earth and Sky exhibits are gone. Other attractions, such as the gem and mineral exhibits and anthropological items, have been dispersed into other displays.

Still, the new academy is a wonder, and will grow and change over time. While the old museum served as a traditional storehouse of the knowledge that the natural sciences have revealed, the new California Academy of Sciences will be an active, evolving educational center, one better suited to today’s audiences.