The Secrets And Stories Of The Natural History Museum

Not only is the Natural History Museum one of London’s best museums, it is also one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

I was lucky enough to be invited on a couple of the Natural History Museum’s special tours: their Secrets of the Natural History Museum and ‘Spirit Collection’ tour. It turns out there is a lot more to the Natural History Museum than first meets the eye… 

But First, A Quick Bit Of Background

The museum’s story goes back to 1753 and the death of a physician and collector by the name of Sir Hans Sloane. 

Sloane travelled the world collecting artefacts and specimens. When he died in 1753, the Government, as prescribed by his will, was able to buy his collection at a much reduced cost. The British Museum in Bloomsbury was constructed to house the collection. 

In the late 1850s, Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892), the man in charge of the British Museum’s natural history collection, started pushing for this to have its own building. Owen was a biologist, zoologist and palaeontologist who is best remembered for coming up with the word ‘dinosauria’, meaning ‘terrible lizard’. 

The man the task fell to to design the new building in South Kensington was Alfred Waterhouse. What he created is a work of art in and of itself: an awe-inspiring, Romanesque building, a cathedral to nature, but one that was open to all.

Opening its doors in 1881, it was pioneering in its construction, as it was the first steel-framed, terracotta building in the country. Terracotta was chosen as it was resistant to London’s polluted climate.

An Overlooked Detail On The Facade

The more you look at the building, you realise just how many little details there are on it, including sculptures, gargoyles and statues.

The mid-19th century, when the museum was being established, was a period of seismic change in the world of science and zoology. 

In 1879 Darwin published On The Origins Of Species, revealing the links between living and extinct species. Richard Owen, despite being considered one of the leading scientific figures of his time, was strongly opposed to Darwin’s theory of evolution, believing instead that the process was far more complicated and believing in the divine ordering of animals. It is thought that Owen was probably jealous of Darwin’s professional success and fame. 

Owen therefore insisted that all sculptures of extinct animals should be presented separately to those that are living.

All the sculptures and statues on the East wing are extinct and all living animals in the West. If looking at the front entrance, to the right you have creatures such as sabre-tooth tigers and a pterodactyl. On your left are lions and wolves. 

A Missing Statue

In line with Owen’s belief in the divine ordering of animals, there was once a statue of Adam, of Adam and Eve, standing proudly over the front entrance.

Adam was the character in the Bible responsible for naming all the animals. 

The statue was taken down in World War Two and never replaced, you can see a photo of it here.

Hanging On To Hope

Upon entering the museum you are, of course, presented with the suspended skeleton of Hope.

Hope is a young blue whale who washed up on the Southeast coast of Ireland in 1891. At 25 metres long, she was actually, believe it or not, in her adolescent years and not fully grown.

She was displayed in the mammal hall, before, in 2017, replacing Dippy the Diplodocus, in the main hall. Dippy went on a tour of the country, before being given, on long term loan, to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry in 2023. 

Musical Chairs

The museum’s first director, Owen’s successor, was William Flower, who was convinced by Darwin’s theories. When Darwin died in 1882, Flower had a large Portland stone statue of Darwin placed on the main staircase. A bronze statue of his detractor, Owen, looked on from the floor of the hall.

In 1892, when Owen died, Darwin was moved to the rear hall and Owen’s statue took the prime spot.

In 2009 however, on the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s death and 150th of the publication of On The Origins Of Species, Darwin was put back on the staircase and Owen moved to his current position on the first floor at the opposite end of the hall, above the entrance. 

Just to top it off, he is now stuck between statues of Darwin at one end and one of Thomas Huxley, a biologist, known as ‘Darwin’s bulldog’ because of his vigorous public support for Darwin’s theory of evolution.

A Spectacular Ceiling

Make sure you look up on a visit to the museum, the ceilings are decorated with intricate depictions of plants.

The idea was to create a botanical canopy over the whole museum.

There are 162 hand painted and gilded panels in the central hall for example that depict plants that were important economically, horticulturally or medicinally to Britain at the time, such as tobacco, coffee and cotton.

Look Closely At The Monkeys

Climbing up and down the columns in the main hall are the famous monkey sculptures. 

There are 78 in total, but if you look closely, some of them have slightly different faces to the others. These are said to be based on the face of Charles Darwin: supposedly a little dig from Richard Owen. 

The ‘Spirit’ Collection

The museum has over 24 million specimens preserved in spirit and you can be guided around some of the highlights by one of their scientists on the Spirit Collection tour. 

You are taken down into collection, passing by rows of cupboards, each containing thousands of jars with oddities and curiosities from the natural world. 

At the centre is the tank room, where specimens too large for anywhere else are stored. There are lots of fish but also lizards, marsupials and more. 

A dramatic moment on the tour was when our guide put on some long rubber gloves, white overalls and then starting pulling on a chain to slowly reveal the contents of one of the tanks. Revealed was a pretty full tank containing preserved fish from monkfish, to sunfish, to electric rays.

Archie the Squid

At the centre of the tank room is Archie, a giant squid.

He was accidentally killed by a fishing trawler off the coast of the Falkland Islands in 2004. 

Measuring 8.62 metres, he was found at a depth of 250 metres. They usually live in the dark depths of the ocean and are very rarely seen by humans. 

He is preserved in a specially designed, long rectangular case that stretches nearly the whole length of the room. 

Darwin’s Tortoise

There is also an incredible cabinet with items relating to Darwin’s famous voyage on the Beagle in the 1830s. 

In the centre of the cabinet was his pet tortoise.

It had been left on a dusty shelf, in the archives, for many years, its significance unknown.

In 2009 one of the collections managers, Colin McCarthy discovered that the shell hinged off to reveal a registration number. This number led him to find out that it was one of four small tortoises that Darwin brought back with him from the Galapagos Islands. This particular one was found by Darwin on James Island.

The fate of this tortoise was a mystery for years, leading to various theories of his whereabouts. It was claimed that a giant tortoise at Australia Zoo, was, in fact, Darwin’s tortoise. Harriet, as she was called, died in 2006 aged 175 but she was in fact from Santa Cruz island, an island there is no evidence Darwin visited. 

How To Visit

The Natural History Museum is open from 10am-5.50pm everyday of the week.

The Secrets of The Natural History Museum tours is an hour long and costs £15 for an adult. Find out more here.

The Spirit Collection tours cost £25 per adult and last 45 minutes, you can book here.

Thank you for reading, more of London’s historical sights/museums below!