London’s legendary Natural History Museum has just announced that it will be flinging open the doors to a brand new permanent gallery in April. The first new permanent gallery to open at the much-loved museum since 2016, in fact. Fixing Our Broken Planet will shine a light on the biggest challenges facing our natural world, and explore potential solutions.
The gallery will combine trailblazing research from the museum’s world-leading scientists with advice from environmentalists and young changemakers on how to better care for the future of the planet to empower visitors to make changes for the better. The unveiling of the shiny new gallery comes as part of the museum’s NHM150 plan; a programme that aims to transform the iconic South Kensington site from a ‘catalogue of natural history to a catalyst for change’ ahead of the Natural History Museum‘s 150th anniversary in 2031.
Gallery-visitors will be handed practical, evidence-based tips on how they can make positive changes to help tackle the planetary problems we’re facing. They’ll have the chance to get up close and personal with over 250 specimens from the natural world; each of which will play an integral part in telling a story about our fragile relationship with the planet, as our demand for food, materials and energy continues to soar.
Fixing Our Broken Planet will open in the museum’s original 1881 Waterhouse building, which has undergone a full restoration in preparation for the opening. The building’s original Victorian features have been carefully restored, and sustainable materials and methods have been used to breathe a new lease of life into the space.
Museum Director, Dr Doug Gurr, says: “Our scientists have been working to find solutions for and from nature. Fixing Our Broken Planet places this research at the heart of the Museum, allowing us to offer visitors positive ways in which they can act for the planet. By combining the inspiring science and advocacy found in the gallery with the voices of Generation Hope changemakers, we’re showing that we all have the power to make change.”
Fixing Our Broken Planet will open on April 3 and will be free to visit. Find out more about the gallery and the events that will be taking place inside it here.