The Natural History Museum will soon be swinging open the doors of a hidden gallery that’s been closed to the public since the middle of World War II. The gallery in question is sat surreptitiously on the second floor of the South Kensington spot’s Waterhouse Building. And next month, it will reopen with a shiny new (and completely free-to-visit) exhibition, allowing visitors to explore our ever-evolving relationship with the natural world.
Nature and Us at the Natural History Museum
Nature and Us will land at the legendary London landmark on September 16 and remain open for 18 months to begin with. The exhibition has been created with support from the Natural Environment Research Council and will feature 50 rather remarkable objects, each of which will highlight the human connection with nature and the world around us.
Items on display include a miniature model of a Crystal Palace dinosaur (revealing the way in which early scientists and artists imagined prehistoric life), a Victorian skeleton of a monk seal (illustrating how wild animals were once exploited for entertainment), and a hand-axe dating back approximately 400,000 years (the discovery of which transformed the understand of when humans first existed). Visitors will also be able to touch a replica jaw of one of Britain’s very first domesticated dogs, which will showcase the long-standing relationship between humans and dogs.
The fascinating exhibition will set up shop inside the historic gallery that’s been closed for over 80 years. Having previously served as both an osteology (skeleton) gallery and a mammals gallery, the room has certainly got plenty of stories to tell. The gallery was repurposed (and subsequently closed to the public) after the museum’s original herbarium was damaged during WWII, as the room had to be used to house the botanical collections. The original wooden herbarium cabinets still remain in place to this very day, shining a light on the room’s extensive history as a working scientific space.
The reopening of the gallery comes as part of the museum’s ongoing NHM150 campaign which is set to increase the site’s public space by around 16%, thus enabling the museum to welcome around a million extra visitors each year. The Nature and Us exhibition has been designed to be experimental and the next 18 months will be somewhat of a trial run. Visitors are being asked to put their two cents in on the exhibition to shape which stories go on to appear in the permanent gallery which is set to open in 2029.
Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, said: “Reopening this remarkable gallery is an exciting moment for the Museum. For the first time in over 80 years, visitors will be able to step into this beautiful historic space and explore our changing relationship with the natural world. It’s another important step in our NHM150 transformation as we create new spaces that inspire people to become advocates for the planet.”
Claire Andrew, Head of Community Engagement at the Natural Environment Research Council, said: “By opening access to these remarkable collections, the space will help audiences explore our evolving connection with nature, while building towards a permanent gallery in 2029. We are confident that Nature and Us will captivate minds and motivate visitors to explore their own relationship with the natural world, and how science can drive meaningful action for our planet.”
The Nature and Us exhibition will open at the Natural History Museum on September 16 and run for 18 months.
