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London’s Natural History Museum has announced its newly transformed gardens will open to the public this July
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 13 May 2024
The centrepiece of the gardens is a life-size bronze replica of Dippy the Dinosaur Credit: Natural History Museum
London’s Natural History Museum has announced the opening of its transformed gardens, set to feature a bronze cast of its iconic diplodocus ‘Dippy’, will take place on July 18.
Covering five acres (20,230sq m), the free-to-visit green space in the heart of the British capital is part of the museum’s Urban Nature Project, which aims to increase biodiversity, accessibility, opportunities for education and the usability of the museum’s grounds.
Visitors will first see Evolution Garden - a story of 2.7 billion years of history told through an immersive timeline of plants, geology, and representations of reptiles, birds and mammals.
Meanwhile, the Evolution Timeline offers a mini canyon clad in ancient stone collected from across the UK.
The centrepiece is a weatherproof bronze cast of Dippy the Dinosaur – the museum’s famous diplodocus skeleton that stood in the museum’s entrance hall before being replaced by a blue whale in 2017. The bronze takes centre stage in a garden filled with Wollemi pines, dwarf ginkgos and cycads – flora all chosen to evoke the feel of a landscape in the Jurassic period.
Visitors can also explore the Nature Discovery Garden, a space that will showcase the biodiversity that can be found in the UK’s urban spaces. There will also be an accessible sunken pathway that winds between the garden’s ponds, populated by both frogs and newts.
In addition to being a green space, the gardens will also become a living laboratory – a hub where Museum scientists and volunteers alike can develop best practices to protect urban nature.
“This is the first time in 140 years that the gardens around our building have been completely transformed. Through two new outdoor galleries – complete with a new resident dinosaur – visitors will explore the incredible story of Earth, stretching back more than 2.7 billion years,” said Dr Alex Burch, director of Public Programmes at the Natural History Museum.
“The five acres of gardens provide a wildlife haven in the heart of London. They will be the perfect setting for people to connect with, learn about and cherish the nature to be found in our towns and cities.”
Museums and galleries
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