The Wonders of London's Natural History Museum - An In-Depth Guided Tour

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In this video, Jessica the Museum Guide (that’s me!) takes you on a detailed guided tour of London’s iconic Natural History Museum.

We’ll explore the history of the museum and explore the massive Hintze Hall, including Hope the Blue Whale and the statue of Charles Darwin. Next, we’ll tour the epic Dinosaur Collection and say hello to Dippy, followed by the treasures of the Cadogan Gallery.

We break into The Vault to see some wondrous geology and admire the taxidermy of the Mammals collection. After bidding farewell to the mammals, we take a peek at the Spirit Collection, followed by some highlights of Human Evolution. We finish the tour in the Earthquake Simulator where things really get shakin’ (groan).

0:00 – Introduction to the tour
00:11 – The History of the Natural History Museum
2:58 - Entering the Museum - Hintze Hall
3:23 - Hope the Blue Whale
3:57 - Giraffe Taxidermy and Skeleton
4:37 - Turbinaria Coral
5:41 - Blue Marlin Wet Specimen
6:29 - American Mastodon
7:01 - Butterflies
7:44 - Dinosaur Collection
10:31 - Dippy the Diplodocus
12:33 - Charles Darwin Statue
13:54 - Mezzanine Level - Taxidermy Birds
14:27 - Blashka Glass Models
15:39 - Furze Platt Handaxe
16:16 - Hans Sloane's Nautilus and Lion's Skull
16:47 - Charles Darwin's First Edition and Pigeons
18:03 - The Great Auk
18:48 - Introduction to The Vault
19:22 - Duke of Devonshire Diamond
20:02 - Crystal Box Mystery
20:38 - Rhodochrosite
21:24 - Winchcombe Meteorite
22:00 - Guy the Gorilla
22:54 - Chi Chi the Panda
23:20 - Mammal Galleries
24:30 - The Spirit Collection
26:19 - Introduction to the Human Evolution Gallery
26:40 - Lucy - Australopithecus Afarensis
27:17 - Neanderthal and Early Homo Sapien Models
28:22 - Cheddar Gorge Man and Cannibalism
29:35 - The Escalator through the Centre of the Earth
30:07 - 1995 Kobe Earthquake Simulator

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See individual photo frames for attribution. Thanks to the Natural History Museum for use of many of their wonderful photos.

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[Phoenix-Crafts]

Thank you, I am disabled and find trips out exhausting these days but the Natural History museum and Geology collection will always be special to me. I loved each of the videos that I’ve seen of yours so far.

[annhalton]

Thank you for your informative, well spoken and entertaining videos. Thank you for not being loud and dramatic, with annoying background music, like many other videos.

[leslietarkin]

The Natural Museum is a favorite of mine. I like to draw dragons and other mythical creatures, so I go there and draw the animals for inspiration. My favorite animals to draws are the dinosaurs. Drawing the skeletons really helps me learn their anatomy and how it can be used to make realistic drawings of mythical creatures. This is a great video. Please do one on the Cheddar area.

[TealCheetah]

The earthquake simulator reminds me of the volcano interior at the Denver natural history museum when I was a child. It didn't move, but it scared the hell out of me. Going back as a teen.... it was a clear acrylic floor with glowing "magma" and a fog machine.

[real]

Love all your videos there so professionally produced. Thankyou so much, love them all. Can't wait for the next one. ( I've seen them all now 😊).

[tamarrajames]

LOVE the glass sculptures of marine invertebrates…thank you. In 1958 or 59, when I was 7 or 8, there was an earthquake that buckled Foul Bay Road in Victoria B.C., I remember watching the road crack and buckle with my siblings while the ground shook under us. Most houses had breakage of glass and crockery, it was pretty amazing to experience.🖤🇨🇦

[chrisball]

I'm currently on a half-term holiday with my son to Berlin, which has got to be one of the museum capitals of the whole world, and I'm probably in danger of OD'ing on museums right now... All the same, I was really happy to watch this, as the Natural History Museum was probably the one that really ignited my interest in these places when I was a dino-mad kid. Great choice of exhibits to feature, as usual.

The revamped Hintz Hall and Cadogan gallery have done a really good job of highlighting some of the best exhibits in the NHM, and they deserve credit for it. As much as I love the 80's-tastic and tatty hall of mammals, I'm looking forward to seeing it spritzed up and modernised, as the other modernised galleries have only got better.

[Tocsin-Bang]

I remember seeing Guy when he was alive. I love the London museums. I've taken numerous school parties to the Natural History and Science Museum.

[verawarren]

Another great tour, thank you! My favorite was the Blaschka glass animals, they were amazing and very contemporary. Thanks again for all the work that goes into these!

[kaollakitten]

Please visit Cheddar & Somerset. The Cheddar Man was found to have a living relative living within Somerset, in a nearby village.

[jamieknight]

This was such a joy to watch. Thanks for creating it :)

[Hollymillar]

Please, I’m so happy to have found your channel!! Glad to see you have posted again, I’m learning so much from you I love how informative you are 😁😁💖 keep up the great work and can’t wait to see further videos from you in the future ☺️

[juliewilson]

I’ve just found your channel so I’m going to watch all the other videos, as I’m a huge museum fan and this is my favourite that I’ve visited. Great job 👏 😊

[vlt-jpg]

This video is a godsend!! I'm writing fanfiction where two characters go on a date here and I missed so many galleries on my trip to London because I didn't use a map and I'm only realising now that I've gone to write it 😢 love the detailed history, you're amazing 🥰

[arthunter]

Incredibly detailed video. Thank you so much for this content…

[spacecardinal]

Great tour. Really well done. I would like to watch anything you come up with. Cheers

[emmamarson]

Thanks again. I had a great time too, with you leading the way.

[JanKustersSittard]

I love to look at a museum this way when I can not visit it in real life, thank you!
And yes please on the inner work of a museum!!!

[betty]

Thank you for the video, and in particular the information about the collections and origins of specimens.

[shonunezekiel]

Really well filmed and presented video - thank you. I am planning to take my kids (11 and 8 years old) to the NHM during a staycation in the summer holiday... I think we will focus on a couple of areas, and maybe take a guided tour, then come back again, rather than try to breeze-through glimpsing everything.