Natural History Museum reopens 80-year-old hidden gallery in London with 400,000-year-old handaxe and Star Wars toy encrusted with marine life

A second-floor gallery at London's Natural History Museum that has been shut to the public since 1943 has reopened, more than 80 years after it last welcomed visitors. Its opening exhibition, Nature and Us, opened to the public on 16 September and gathers 50 objects that show how people have imagined, exploited and reinterpreted the natural world.

A room with a wartime past

The space in the Waterhouse building worked as two galleries in one before it closed: an osteology gallery devoted to skeletons, and a mammals gallery. Historic photographs released by the museum show it as the Osteology gallery in 1893 and as the Upper Mammals Gallery in 1911.

Everything changed during the Second World War, when the museum's original herbarium, its collection of preserved plants, was damaged. 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 handaxe to a Star Wars toy

The exhibition moves well beyond fossils and skeletons. A handaxe made 400,000 years ago is an object whose discovery transformed understanding of when humans first existed. A miniature model of a Crystal Palace dinosaur shows how early scientists and artists pictured prehistoric life, while Jenny, a Victorian skeleton of a monk seal, reveals how wild animals were once exploited for entertainment.

Some objects are far more ordinary. A Star Wars toy from the 1980s, 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. Visitors can also touch a replica jaw from one of Britain's earliest known domesticated dogs, which lived around 14,300 years ago.

Visitors shape the next permanent gallery

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 due to open in 2029.

Claire Andrews, Head of Community Engagement at the Natural Environment Research Council, said the space would help audiences explore their connection with nature. She said 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.

A gallery a year until the 150th anniversary

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. The campaign is also seeking to raise an additional £150 million.

It follows the gallery Fixing Our Broken Planet, which the museum says has been visited by 3 million people since opening in 2025. Doug Gurr, the museum's director, described the reopening as "an exciting moment for the Museum" and said new spaces like this are meant to inspire people to become advocates for the planet.

Funding and visiting details

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.