Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road in South Kensington, London, is housed in a Romanesque terracotta building designed by Alfred Waterhouse and opened in 1881. Its collections hold about 80 million specimens, spanning fossils, minerals, plants, insects and animals. The central Hintze Hall greets visitors with Hope, a 25-metre blue whale skeleton suspended in a diving pose, which replaced the Dippy the Diplodocus cast that now tours the country. Permanent galleries are grouped into coloured zones. The Red Zone covers geology, including an earthquake simulator and volcano displays, and the Green Zone includes dinosaurs, with a moving animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex, mammals, and the Treasures cabinet. The Blue Zone features marine reptiles and a life-size model of a blue whale, while the Orange Zone holds the Wildlife Garden and Darwin Centre, where scientists work on specimens. Admission is free, with charges only for special exhibitions and the winter ice rink in the front garden. A visit commonly takes two to three hours, and families with children often stay for most of a day. The best architectural photographs are taken from the Hintze Hall floor looking up at the whale, from the first-floor balcony, and from the front lawn looking at the facade. The museum is busiest on weekends, school holidays and wet days, with the dinosaur gallery often queued by mid-morning. Weekday mornings from 10:00 and late afternoons before closing at 17:50 are quieter, and the museum stays open late on the last Friday of the month for adult events. Free timed entry tickets can be booked online and reduce waiting at busy times. The Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum are within a few minutes' walk, and South Kensington Underground station connects via a pedestrian tunnel to the museum.