Description of the attraction
The Natural History Museum in London is one of the largest museums of its kind in the world. Once part of the British Museum, it now houses over 70 million exhibits in five large sections - botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. It is an internationally recognized research center, renowned for its work in taxonomy, identification and conservation of exhibits.
The Museum of Natural History was based on the collection of Sir Hans Sloan, which formed part of the general collection of the British Museum. However, it was not given due attention, the exhibits were stored in inappropriate conditions or were sold out, until Richard Owen became the caretaker of the natural history section in 1856. He insisted on separation from the British Museum, a separate building was erected for the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, and the collections were moved there. However, the museum was formally separated from the British Museum only in 1963, and the words "British Museum" disappeared from the official name of the Natural History Museum only in 1992.
Outside and inside, the museum building is faced with terracotta tiles depicting plants and animals, both now existing and extinct - the western and eastern wings, respectively. This was done at Owen's personal request - as a kind of objection to Darwin's theory of natural selection and the origin of species. In our time, the Darwin Center and Attenborough Studio, named after the famous biologist and TV host of programs about the living world of the Earth, David Attenborough, were added to the museum complex.
The most famous exhibits in the collection are a 32-meter replica of a Diplodocus skeleton, a moving model of a Tyrannosaurus rex, a life-size blue whale and its skeleton, as well as an eight-meter giant squid, for which a special container had to be built to store the carcass.
The mineralogical collection is presented in the same way as it was in the 19th century - a kind of monument to museum art and science of the past. The Natural History Museum conducts various educational programs for schoolchildren.
As with all public museums in the UK, admission to the Natural History Museum is free.
