- kpvincent
- First Reviewer
- 4 out of 5
- Avg. Member Rating
- 10
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Editor Pick
Welcome to the Age of Science
- September 10, 2009
- Rated 5 of 5 by
MagdaDH from Perth, United Kingdom
Natural History Museum is one of the largest museums of this type in the world, with over 70 million specimens collected in several areas: Botany, Entomology, Mineralogy, Palaeontology and Zoology. It's not just a collection but a place of research, especially on taxonomy and identification of species. The building itself is also an attraction, and the Great Hall with its diplodocus skeleton forms one of the iconic images of London attractions.
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As soon as my daughter was big enough to say "dinosaur" I took here to the National History Museum during one of our day London trips and we spent about 2.5 hours wandering about the collections. It needs much more - I remembered it from my first visit in 1992, but we will be back.
The building itself is magnificent and makes it worth a visit: even those not interested in living things come to have a look at the glorious facade and the impressive interiors, especially the Great Hall. It was built as a result of a 1864 a competition, won by Captain Francis Fowke and then taken over by Alfred Waterhouse, who designed the facades in the most magnificent neo-Romanesque style.
Recently, the building has been beautifully cleaned to reveal the whole glory of the intricate multi-coloured facade where the sculptures depict all kinds of members of the animal kingdom rather than traditional monster faces of medieval gargoyles.
But most people come here to see what's inside and afford only passing admiring glances to the building itself. I was delighted to find out that National History Museum (as well as Science museum) became completely free of charge some time between 1992 when I last visited and now. We climb the stairs and enter.
Welcome to the beginnings of the science age.
The Natural History Museum comprises Life Galleries, covering mostly animal life (a lot of it now extinct) and Earth Galleries, covering subjects like geology, volcanoes, minerals and the like. Please note that there is very, very little plant related material in Natural History Museum. If you want to see the plants you have to go to Kew Gardens!
*Life Galleries*
For a casual visitor Life Galleries are definitely the priority, and if you have only a little time in a busy London schedule (1 hour or less), you would be better to concentrate solely on these. Most of the exhibitions are located on the ground level of that amazing building, but some have raised walkways/ramps/gallery balconies to see from above. The material is divided according to the taxonomy of animal world but some highlights are dotted around the impressive main hall, whose centre is graced by the fantastic dinosaur skeleton, one that's now iconically associated with the Museum.
The detailed dinosaur section is very, very good: informative, with plenty of text and interactive/electronic displays; lots of fossil exhibits and models, including robotic models. The absolute highlight must be a life-sized robotic model of a T-rex which moves and roars (randomly, so it's more scary). My 4 year old daughter was absolutely terrified even though I carried her (but she remembered it best of the whole museum too).
The other good section is the large mammal one, with plenty of models and stuffed animals placed in one room so you can actually compare the size of the blue whale to other dolphins, giraffes or elephants. The gallery above that exhibit is devoted to sea mammals (mostly whales/dolphins) and is fascinating, with films, demonstrations, maps and models to make their physiology and life closer to us.
There is plenty of stuffed animals in NHM, a lot of them bit scruffy (they display the ones in worse state keeping the better ones for research purposes). Recently they also started to display the specimens in jars - spooky looking lizards, turtles and other strange creatures preserved in alcohol in old fashioned glass containers. I found it bit horrible but my daughter was fascinated and loved it!
I was slightly disappointed by the Primate section located on the first floor gallery which, though interesting (we loved trying to guess the sounds monkeys make to communicate), seemed bit sparse.
Above the Great Hall rests one of the few plant-related exhibits, a cross section of a giant sequoia tree felled in 19th century after something like 1000 years of life. Truly impressive!
Creepy Crawlies is a new, modern, interactive gallery devoted to arthropods, from insects to spiders, and most of it is better suited to older children/teenagers.
Human Biology section is another highlight, with models of internal organ systems and interactive facilities that probably require a day of visiting on its own to take it all in.
*Earth Galleries*
We went round only some of the Earth Galleries and rather quickly: the entrance is very impressive, with escalator taking the visitors up to the sphere made of what looked like rusty tin plates, filled with spooky light.
The galleries are interesting, though there is less to simply look at and more to take in in the way of text descriptions and explanations. I would say that the youngest age that would be able to enjoy it has to be at least 7-8 year olds, and it's probably better suited to adults and Secondary School age children.
*Practicalities*
The museum has the usual cafe(s), shop (not bad for a museum money spinner) as well as a cloakroom (very useful for day-trippers and in the winter). The charge for leaving a piece of luggage was 3GBP, which is by the way significantly lower than a charge at Victoria Station left luggage (where it cost 5.50).
It's located in South Kensington and the easiest way to get there is to take a district or circle line to South Kensington, and from then on there are signs - it's about 5 minutes walk. It opens between 10 and 18, daily.
From journal London on the Cheap
Editor Pick
Bones and Volcanoes Under One Roof
- November 8, 2008
- Rated 4 of 5 by
tvordj from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Natural History Museum and the Science Museum are two of the Big Three on Cromwell Road/Exhibition Road in the West End of London. The Victoria and Albert Museum is the third of the triumvirate. You can't possibly see both of them in one day, not if you are going to do each of them justice. We did the Natural History and Science museums together and even that was a bit much. We didn't see all of it because it was just too much to take in but what we did was really good. It's a really good museum for families too. Kids can't seem to get enough of dinosaurs and science and the exhibits are top quality. Originally, these exhibits were part of the British Museum but grew so large and numerous that their own building was erected in the late 1880s. The building itself is every bit as interesting and beautiful as the museum, if, like me, you love architectural detail. Don't forget to look up at all the decoration on the ceiling panels.
The building itself is Victorian and purpose-built with grand staircases and high ceilings. There is disabled access, of course, and lifts but the sprawl is a bit hard to find your way around at times, I found. even with a map. You are greeted by a full scale model of a dinosaur skeleton with a small head on a long searching neck in the grand Entrance Hall. You veer to the left for the Dino exhibit and if you want, you can go up a set of stairs to an overhead walkway to look down on the skeletons or at the ones hanging from the ceilings at eye level. There are ground level exhibits too, so you can just stay on the ground and gaze up while checking out the information boards. There's an animatronic T-Rex that growls and howls and scares little kids. It must be moving by motion detection because it will swing it's head around, seemingly randomly and very menacingly. We saw more than one child jump and look doubtful but yet not able to tear themselves away!
The mammal hall has the models (or perhaps stuffed actual carcasses?) of lots of various types of mammals including a giant blue whale, Elephant, school of porpoises, giraffe and many more. All of them are to scale so you can compare the sizes. That and the dinosaurs are both very popular and so very crowded. Be warned. There are also sections on human biology, creepy crawlies like snakes and insects which I wasn't really up to viewing, personally. There are fossils, birds, and ecology exhibits.
The Science museum wing was really interesting. You can learn all about volcanoes and earthquakes, what causes them and was kind of effect they have. There is a huge model of the earth, as the plates would look and you take an escalator right up inside it where there is a celestial map lining it's interior. There are scultures on the lower court in front of it and loads of interesting and interactive things to see and do.
Entrance hours from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wheelchair entrance is off Exhibition Road and there are lifts. Get there via the South Kensington Tube station and follow the signs for the museums. You'll have to come up some steps and you'll find yourself by the front of the museum. The Science Museum is on the Exhibition Road side. There are restaurants and cafes and several shops. We arrived at opening on a Sunday and spent a good few hours checking it out, including a tea break in one of the cafes.
The Natural History Museum
- September 14, 2007
- Rated 4 of 5 by
RVT from Auckland, New Zealand
The Natural History Museum was really special. It's in a beautiful old building with fantastic gargoyles hanging off it. Each section is really extensive and there are lots of stuffed animals. The dinosaur section was by far the most popular and I'd have to agree. I read all about the evolution of dinosaurs and possible theories about their extinction. The number of fossils were really impressive. A great morning or afternoon out!
From journal Living in London
Natural History Museum (The)
- April 21, 2006
- Rated 2 of 5 by
Brubs23 from Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
I visited the Natural History Museum late one afternoon. I have been to the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian in D.C. numerous times, and I think that affected my opinion of the one in London. Many of he exhibits seemed outdated, and much of it was (as to be expected) very similar to the DC museum. I only spent about 45 minutes at the Natural History Museum. The dinosaur skeletons were fascinating, but other than for those, I would not go back.
From journal Visiting Friends in London
London Natural Museum
- February 17, 2006
- Rated 3 of 5 by
airpricing from London, United Kingdom
London Natural Museum shows life from the past and goes into the present. It has such an enormous archive, a flood of culture and biology.
You can find the pre-historic fossils and recreation of how those animals looked like, which is the most interesting part. It is like coming out of the "Jurassic Park", the movie.
If you are interested in life over our planet, well, you will enjoy the cultural sightseeing here. Also the mineral part is quite interesting. You have stones, semi precious, precious, non precious ones, including some meteorites.
This is a must if you go to London: meteorites, dinosaurs, fossils, stones, etc., etc., want more?
From journal London Natural Museum