What to See at the Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum, located on Cromwell Road in South Kensington, London, is one of the world's most important natural history institutions. Founded in 1881, the museum houses approximately 80 million specimens across five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. The building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse in Romanesque style, is itself a masterpiece — often called a "cathedral of nature" — with terracotta tiles depicting living and extinct species throughout its façade.
Must-see galleries and highlights:
- Hintze Hall — The museum's grand entrance hall, home to "Hope," a 25.2-metre real blue whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling
- Dinosaur Gallery — Life-size dinosaur skeletons and an animatronic T. rex that roars and moves
- Earth Hall — Ride an escalator through a giant globe into galleries exploring earthquakes, volcanoes and minerals
- Treasures Gallery — 22 extraordinary objects including dodo bones, a first edition of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, a moon rock, and a giant emerald crystal
- Minerals Gallery — Thousands of minerals, gemstones and meteorites on display
- Darwin Centre — The modern Cocoon building housing millions of specimens and a behind-the-scenes experience
- Wildlife Garden — An outdoor space showcasing British wildlife habitats (seasonal)
The museum is organised into four colour-coded zones: Blue (dinosaurs, fish, amphibians, human biology), Green (birds, ecology, minerals, fossils from Britain), Red (Earth Hall, volcanoes, earthquakes), and Orange (Darwin Centre, Wildlife Garden).