One of London’s most famous museums is dusting off the keys to old rooms that haven’t been seen by the public for decades.
The Natural History Museum in South Kensington plans to open two spaces, one of which hasn’t been seen by visitors since World War II. The aptly named Old General Herbarium has not been seen by Londoners since 1948 and is set to launch in 2026 as a pop-up Hidden Histories gallery.
Origins gallery, which has been shut since 2004, will also reopen as a ‘Land and Air gallery’ sometime before the institution’s 150th birthday in 2031.
Both spaces currently house some of the museum’s huge behind-the-scenes collection. But to get the rooms ready will require a serious logistical battle and the transfer of millions of specimens, from tiny beetles to fossils. As reported in the Times, the NHM has 80 million specimens, and for every taxidermied animal you see on display, there are at least 3,000 more specimens in storage.
Around 38 million specimens are set to move next year, some within the South Ken building and others will be moved to the Thames Valley Science Park, a multimillion-pound research centre near Reading.
The man behind the plans is Doug Gurr, who’s been director of the Natural History Museum since 2020. He has set the ambitious target to keep updating the institution by introducing ‘one new thing a year’ until 2031, the Times reported. The reopenings are tied to the museum’s NHM Unlocked programme, which is backed by government funding and intends to show off more of the museum’s huge collections while creating scientific hub to tackle big issues like the climate crisis.
Find Time Out’s ultimate guide to visiting the Natural History Museum here.
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