Description

Essentials about the Natural History Museum in brief

Those interested in nature should definitely include a visit to the Natural History Museum in London on their agenda, as it is one of the largest and most interesting natural history museums in the world. Along with the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, it is one of the three main museums on the so-called “Exhibition Road” in the South Kensington district. With about five million visitors a year, the Natural History Museum is also one of the most popular museums in London.

The history of the Natural History Museum

At the time of its opening in 1881, the museum was still part of the British Museum. The natural history collection of the physicist and curiosity collector Sir Hans Sloane, which he bequeathed to the British nation in the mid-18th century, formed the basis of the collections. As other important collections were bequeathed to the British Museum over time, including those brought back by botanist Joseph Banks from his voyage with Captain James Cook, the museum’s space was no longer sufficient. Finally, at the end of the 19th century, the Natural History Museum was housed in a new Romanesque-Byzantine style building on its present site.

The exhibition in the Natural History Museum

Today, the museum houses about 70 million different objects. Among the highlights of the exhibition are certainly the numerous dinosaur skeletons, the 30-meter-long skeleton of a blue whale and the largest collection of meteorites in the world. In the so-called Life Galleries there are exhibitions of fish, mollusks and crustaceans, amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds and mammals, plus fossils and minerals, as well as exhibitions on ecology and evolution. Particular emphasis is placed on the world of plants and human biology. In the so-called Earth Galleries, the history of our planet is told, the forces of nature are depicted very vividly, and the influence of man on earth is illustrated. The famous meteorite collection is also located here. And last, but not least, all known species of the earth are collected in the so-called Darwin Centre.

Website

nhm.ac.uk

Opening hours

Admission fees

Free.

Adresse

Getting there

By public transport:

Circle, District and Piccadilly line: Stop South Kensington

Bus lines 70 and 345: Stop Natural History Museum / Cromwell Road

Bus line 360: Stop South Kensington Museums

By car:

There are no parking garages in the immediate vicinity of the Natural History Museum.