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Natural History Museum Review
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Natural History Museum 
- Address: Cromwell Rd., South Kensington, London, SW7 | Map It
- Phone: 020/7942-5000
- www.nhm.ac.uk
- Category: Museums/Galleries
- Location: South Kensington
Fodor's Review:
Architect Alfred Waterhouse had relief panels scattered across the outrageously ornate French Romanesque-style terra-cotta facade of this museum, depicting extant creatures to the left of the entrance, extinct ones to the right. The museum is full of cutting-edge exhibits, with all the wow-power and interactives necessary to secure interest from younger visitors.
Upon entering the museum's central hall you'll come face-to-face with the most potent symbol of extinction -- the dinosaurs -- as a giant diplodocus skeleton dominates the many archways to the Life Galleries. From here you can follow the Waterhouse Way to further dinosaur exploration in Gallery 21, where velociraptors and oviraptors slug it out, Jurassic Park-style, in a vivid animatronic reconstruction. Don't be surprised when the dinos notice you -- the fierce, animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex senses when human prey is near and "responds" in character. Nearby, you can visit the first T. rex jaw ever discovered -- its teeth are nearly 7 inches long. It's easy to spend all day here, but there are later developments of beastly evolution to discover: en route to the first of these, in the Human Biology Gallery (22), you pass through a birth-simulation chamber. In the Mammal Galleries (23 and 24), a massive 82-foot blue whale suspended on two levels is the centerpiece of the displays showing man's relationship with creatures large and small, from fossils to ferocious beasts. From here you can delve further into this field of biodiversity by continuing on to the new Darwin Centre, which showcases the museum's entire collection -- all 22 million creatures -- from a tiny Seychellian frog to the Komodo dragon lizard. In the Creepy Crawlies Gallery (33), there's a super-enlarged scorpion so nightmarish that it makes tarantulas seem cute. If this is your field of fun, then you might want to zip down to the basement for hands-on activities in the Investigate section, where you can handle actual objects, from old bones to bugs.
The Earth Galleries are also unmissable, if you have the time and stamina, and could make an alternative museum tour beginning, as there's a secondary museum entrance at the Exhibition Road end. No less stunning in effect, a giant escalator takes you into a globe, around which are representations of our solar system. There is a choice of levels -- and Earth surfaces -- to explore, such as "The Power Within" (Gallery 61), where you can feel an earthquake simulation and get the inside facts on volcanoes. The museum has an outdoor ice-skating rink from November to January, and a very popular Christmas fair.
- Cost: Free
- Open: Daily 10-5:50, last admission 5:30; daily tours from main information desk
- Tube: South Kensington
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