Shut since 1943, this hidden Natural History Museum gallery in London is open again with a 400,000-year-old handaxe and a 1980s Star Wars toy encrusted with marine life | World News

As a Herbarium in 1950 (Image: The Trustees of the Natural History Museum London)

Natural History Museum London hidden gallery reopening: a second-floor space in the Waterhouse building, shut to the public since 1943, has welcomed visitors again after more than 80 years. Its opening exhibition, Nature and Us, gathers 50 objects that show how people have imagined, exploited and reinterpreted the natural world, including a handaxe made 400,000 years ago. Admission is free, and the exhibition will run for an initial 18 months. Behind the exhibition stands a collection of more than 80 million specimens spanning 4.5 billion years, which the museum calls the most important of its kind anywhere in the world.

Why the beautiful Waterhouse building gallery vanished from public view during the Second World War

Before it closed, the room worked as two galleries in one: an osteology gallery devoted to skeletons, and a mammals gallery. Historic photographs released by the Natural History Museum show it as the Osteology gallery in 1893 and as the Upper Mammals Gallery in 1911.Everything changed when the museum’s original herbarium, its collection of preserved plants, was damaged during the Second World War. The room was repurposed to house the botanical collections and was no longer open to visitors. Its original wooden herbarium cabinets remain in place, a reminder of its long life as a working space for scientific collections.

From a 400,000-year-old handaxe to a Star Wars toy: the objects telling nature’s story

The exhibition moves well beyond fossils and skeletons. A miniature model of a Crystal Palace dinosaur shows how early scientists and artists pictured prehistoric life. Jenny, a Victorian skeleton of a monk seal, reveals how wild animals were once exploited for entertainment.Some objects are far more ordinary. A toy from the Star Wars films, made in the 1980s and now encrusted with bryozoans (tiny water-dwelling animals), shows how everyday items can take on new meanings through contact with nature and the passing of time. The handaxe, meanwhile, is an object whose discovery transformed understanding of when humans first existed.Visitors can also touch a replica jaw from one of Britain’s earliest known domesticated dogs, which lived around 14,300 years ago and offers evidence of the long bond between people and dogs.

A visitor-led experiment that will shape the permanent gallery planned to open in 2029

The content of Nature and Us is deliberately experimental. Visitors can have their say, and their responses will help decide which stories appear in the permanent gallery that is due to open in 2029.Claire Andrews, Head of Community Engagement at the Natural Environment Research Council, said in the museum’s announcement that the space would help audiences explore their connection with nature. She added that she was confident it would captivate minds and encourage people to examine their own relationship with the natural world and how science can drive action for the planet.

The wider plan to open a new or refreshed Natural History Museum gallery every year to 2031

The reopening is part of the museum’s campaign to transform its South Kensington building ahead of its 150th anniversary in 2031. The plan is to open a brand new or revitalised gallery every year until then, with the aim of welcoming 1 million more visitors annually and engaging 10 million schoolchildren, families and changemakers.It follows the gallery Fixing Our Broken Planet, which the museum says has been visited by 3 million people since opening in 2025. The campaign is also seeking to raise an additional £150 million.Doug Gurr, the museum’s director, said in the announcement that the reopening was “an exciting moment for the Museum” and that new spaces like this are meant to inspire people to become advocates for the planet. The museum’s stated mission is to create more than 100 million of them by 2031.

Who funded the reopening and how to visit the gallery on Cromwell Road in South Kensington

Nature and Us opened to the public on 16 September. The Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, is the lead funder. Björn Savén is the associate funder, and the museum also thanked Ned F. Kuehn, Roger Gahagan, the Edith Murphy Foundation and The James & Shirley Sherwood Foundation for their support.The museum is on Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, and is open daily from 10:00 to 17:50. It is closed from 24 to 26 December.