Early history File:Natural History Museum 1881.JPG|thumb|right|An 1881 plan showing the original arrangement of the museum(link to current floor plans) The foundation of the collection was that of the Ulster doctor Sir
Hans Sloane (1660–1753), who allowed his significant collections to be purchased by the British Government at a price well below their market value at the time. This purchase was funded by a lottery. Sloane's collection, which included dried plants, and animal and human skeletons, was initially housed in
Montagu House, Bloomsbury, in 1756, which was the home of the
British Museum. Most of the Sloane collection had disappeared by the early decades of the nineteenth century. Dr
George Shaw (Keeper of Natural History 1806–1813) sold many specimens to the
Royal College of Surgeons and had periodic
cremations of material in the grounds of the museum. His successors also applied to the trustees for permission to destroy decayed specimens. In 1833, the Annual Report states that, of the 5,500 insects listed in the Sloane catalogue, none remained. The inability of the natural history departments to conserve their specimens became notorious: the Treasury refused to entrust them with specimens collected at the government's expense. Appointments of staff were bedevilled by gentlemanly favouritism; in 1862, a nephew of the mistress of a Trustee was appointed Entomological Assistant despite not knowing the difference between a butterfly and a moth.
J. E. Gray (Keeper of Zoology 1840–1874) complained of the incidence of mental illness amongst staff: George Shaw threatened to put his foot on any shell not in the
12th edition of
Linnaeus'
Systema Naturae; another had removed
all the labels and registration numbers from
entomological cases arranged by a rival. The huge collection of the
conchologist Hugh Cuming was acquired by the museum, and Gray's wife had carried the open trays across the courtyard in a gale: all the labels blew away. That collection is said never to have recovered. The Principal Librarian at the time was
Antonio Panizzi; his contempt for the natural history departments and for science in general was total.
Planning and architecture of new building Owen saw that the natural history departments needed more space, and that implied a separate building, as the British Museum site was limited. Land in South Kensington was purchased, and in 1864 a competition was held to design the new museum. Only thirty-three submissions were made, many of which contained elements of the Renaissance style. The winning entry was submitted by the civil engineer Captain
Francis Fowke, who died shortly afterwards in December 1865. To give the project to the second-place winner would have been viewed as disrespectful to Fowke's memory, and instead the decision was made to expand on his original plans. and who substantially revised the agreed plans, and designed the façades in his own idiosyncratic
Romanesque style, which was inspired by his frequent visits to the Continent. The original plans included wings on either side of the main building, but these plans were soon abandoned for budgetary reasons. Initially, Waterhouse's approximate cost was £495,000, but after further discussion was revised to £330,000. although the move from the old museum was not fully completed until 1883. The museum received both positive and negative reviews by the media upon its opening, but most viewed the museum as a positive contribution to society. Though Waterhouse slipped in a few anomalies, such as bats amongst the extinct animals and a fossil ammonite with the living species. The sculptures were produced from clay models by a French sculptor based in London, M Dujardin, working to drawings prepared by the architect. The central axis of the museum is aligned with the tower of
Imperial College London (formerly the Imperial Institute) and the
Royal Albert Hall and
Albert Memorial further north. These all form part of the complex known colloquially as
Albertopolis.
Separation from the British Museum Even after the opening, the Natural History Museum legally remained a department of the British Museum with the formal name
British Museum (Natural History), usually abbreviated in the
scientific literature as
B.M.(N.H.). A petition to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer was made in 1866, signed by the heads of the
Royal,
Linnean and
Zoological societies as well as naturalists including
Darwin,
Wallace and
Huxley, asking that the museum gain independence from the board of the British Museum, and heated discussions on the matter continued for nearly one hundred years. Finally, with the passing of the
British Museum Act 1963, the British Museum (Natural History) became an independent museum with its own board of trustees, although – despite a proposed amendment to the act in the
House of Lords – the former name was retained. In 1989 the museum publicly re-branded itself as the Natural History Museum and stopped using the title British Museum (Natural History) on its advertising and its books for general readers. Only with the
Museums and Galleries Act 1992 did the museum's formal title finally change to the
Natural History Museum.
Geological Museum In 1985, the museum merged with the adjacent
Geological Museum of the
British Geological Survey, which had long competed for the limited space available in the area. The Geological Museum became world-famous for exhibitions including an active volcano model and an earthquake machine (designed by James Gardner), and housed the world's first computer-enhanced exhibition (
Treasures of the Earth). The museum's galleries were completely rebuilt and relaunched in 1996 as
The Earth Galleries, with the other exhibitions in the Waterhouse building retitled
The Life Galleries. The Natural History Museum's own mineralogy displays remain largely unchanged as an example of the 19th-century display techniques of the Waterhouse building. The central atrium design by Neal Potter overcame visitors' reluctance to visit the upper galleries by "pulling" them through a model of the Earth made up of random plates on an escalator. The new design covered the walls in recycled slate and sandblasted the major stars and planets onto the wall. The museum's 'star' geological exhibits are displayed within the walls. Six iconic figures were the backdrop to discussing how previous generations have viewed Earth. These were later removed to make place for a
Stegosaurus skeleton that was put on display in late 2015.
The Darwin Centre The Darwin Centre (named after
Charles Darwin) was designed as a new home for the museum's collection of tens of millions of preserved specimens, as well as new work spaces for the museum's scientific staff and new educational visitor experiences. Built in two distinct phases, with two new buildings adjacent to the main Waterhouse building, it is the most significant new development project in the museum's history. Phase one of the Darwin Centre opened to the public in 2002, and it houses the
zoological department's 'spirit collections'—organisms preserved in
alcohol. Phase Two was unveiled in September 2008 and opened to the general public in September 2009. It was designed by the Danish architecture practice
C. F. Møller Architects in the shape of a giant, eight-story
cocoon and houses the
entomology and
botanical collections—the 'dry collections'. It is possible for members of the public to visit and view non-exhibited items for a fee by booking onto one of the several Spirit Collection Tours offered daily. Arguably the most famous creature in the centre is the 8.62-metre-long
giant squid, affectionately named Archie.
The Attenborough Studio As part of the museum's remit to communicate science education and conservation work, a new multimedia studio forms an important part of Darwin Centre Phase 2. In collaboration with the
BBC's Natural History Unit (holder of the largest archive of natural history footage) the Attenborough Studio—named after the broadcaster Sir
David Attenborough—provides a multimedia environment for educational events. The studio holds regular lectures and demonstrations, including free Nature Live talks on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. == Major specimens and exhibits == in the Hintze Hall at the Natural History Museum in 2008|alt= One of the most famous and certainly most prominent of the exhibits—nicknamed "
Dippy"—is a -long replica of a
Diplodocus carnegii skeleton which was on display for many years within the central hall. The cast was given as a gift by the Scottish-American industrialist
Andrew Carnegie, after a discussion with King
Edward VII, then a keen trustee of the British Museum. Carnegie paid £2,000 () for the casting, copying
the original held at the
Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The pieces were sent to London in 36 crates, and on 12 May 1905, the exhibit was unveiled to great public and media interest. The real fossil had yet to be mounted, as the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh was still being constructed to house it. As word of Dippy spread, Mr Carnegie paid to have additional copies made for display in most major European capitals and in Central and South America, making Dippy the most-viewed dinosaur skeleton in the world. The dinosaur quickly became an iconic representation of the museum, and has featured in many cartoons and other media, including the 1975 Disney comedy
One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing. After 112 years on display at the museum, the dinosaur replica was removed in early 2017 to be replaced by the actual skeleton of a young
blue whale, a 128-year-old skeleton nicknamed "
Hope". Dippy went on a tour of various British museums starting in 2018 and concluding in 2020 at
Norwich Cathedral. , in the Hintze Hall The blue whale skeleton, Hope, that has replaced Dippy, is another prominent display in the museum. The display of the skeleton, some long and weighing 4.5 tonnes, was only made possible in 1934 with the building of the
New Whale Hall (now the
Mammals (blue whale model) gallery). The whale had been in storage for 42 years since its stranding on sandbanks at the mouth of
Wexford Harbour, Ireland in March 1891 after being injured by whalers. The Darwin Centre is host to
Archie, an 8.62-metre-long
giant squid taken alive in a fishing net near the
Falkland Islands in 2004. The squid is not on general display, but stored in the large tank room in the basement of the Phase 1 building. It is possible for members of the public to visit and view non-exhibited items behind the scenes for a fee by booking onto one of the several Spirit Collection Tours offered daily. == Galleries ==