A few things: 1) I have no idea what used to be in the space now occupied by the the cafe, but our giant squid - the most complete specimen (possibly the only complete specimen?) in a museum's collection - was collected around 2002 and is currently stored in the Darwin Centre: viewable if you go on a Darwin centre tour. Sadly, the size of the case in which she's preserved makes it too heavy for the floors in the museum proper, and we can't reinforce the building without doing irreparable damage to the precious architecture.
2) Darwin used to be on the central staircase, but was replaced with Owen to commemorate an anniversary concerning the museum's founder. I don't know if they plan to swap the statues again after Darwin 200.
3) There are some fine plant fossils on display on the first floor of the Red Zone, and if you come back in the summer months, the garden will be open. I'd really like to see more of our specimens on display, but like the entomology collections, they're particularly vulnerable to light.
Apparently I can't get out of museum mode, even when I'm at home.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-03-07 06:38 pm (UTC)1) I have no idea what used to be in the space now occupied by the the cafe, but our giant squid - the most complete specimen (possibly the only complete specimen?) in a museum's collection - was collected around 2002 and is currently stored in the Darwin Centre: viewable if you go on a Darwin centre tour. Sadly, the size of the case in which she's preserved makes it too heavy for the floors in the museum proper, and we can't reinforce the building without doing irreparable damage to the precious architecture.
2) Darwin used to be on the central staircase, but was replaced with Owen to commemorate an anniversary concerning the museum's founder. I don't know if they plan to swap the statues again after Darwin 200.
3) There are some fine plant fossils on display on the first floor of the Red Zone, and if you come back in the summer months, the garden will be open. I'd really like to see more of our specimens on display, but like the entomology collections, they're particularly vulnerable to light.
Apparently I can't get out of museum mode, even when I'm at home.