The Natural History Museum has its beginnings in 1756, when it was a simple collection of dried plants and animal skeletons housed in the same building as the British Museum. It was decided in the 1850s that a larger building was needed to house the growing collection, so a new building was built and completed in 1881. It is the building that can be seen today.
The Natural History Museum features life and earth science collections, with over 70 million specimens or items on display. The museum focuses on collections related to the fields of botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology, and zoology. There is also a wildlife garden filled with native plant and animal life. One of its most popular attractions is the complete and reconstructed Diplodocus skeleton which dominates the entrance to the museum. Very recently, the complete skeleton of the River Thames northern bottlenose whale was added. It became the first ever specimen of its kind to be put on display.
The rich collections of the Natural History Museum is guaranteed to enthrall visitors and keep them coming back for more.
