Alistair Hardaker | Image: Upper Mammals Gallery 1911 (The Trustees of the Natural History Museum London)
Gallery opening for 18 months ahead of permanent gallery planned for 2029 under NHM150 campaign.
The Natural History Museum is reopening a gallery closed since 1943, showcasing the evolving relationship between humans and nature through 50 objects.
Last open over 80 years ago and previously sealed off to the public, the gallery will open with ‘Nature and Us’, and will be free to visit from 16 September 2026.
The gallery will initially reopen for 18 months, supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
Key specimens and historic objects appearing in Nature and Us include a miniature model of a Crystal Palace dinosaur, a Victorian skeleton of a monk seal, and a bryozoan-encrusted Star Wars toy from the 1980s.
Located on the second floor of the main museum’s Waterhouse building, the gallery historically served as both an osteology gallery and a mammals gallery. After the Museum’s original herbarium was damaged during the Second World War, the gallery was repurposed to house the botanical collections and closed to the public.
Claire Andrews, the museum’s head of community engagement at Natural Environment Research Council said: “By opening access to these remarkable collections, the space will help audiences explore our evolving connection with nature, while building towards a permanent gallery in 2029.”
The reopening is part of the museum’s NHM150 campaign, which is opening up and creating new spaces for visitors within the museum.
