The Natural History Museum is Opening a Room Closed to the Public Since World War II

A second-floor gallery closed since 1943 will host a new exhibition in September, and entry is free.

Fancy feasting your eyes on a Victorian-era skeleton of a monk seal? How about a hand-axe dating back 400,000 years? A mini model of one of the Crystal Palace dinosaurs? If you're nodding your head at the screen right now, we have some good news for you.

South Kensington's Natural History Museum (NHM) has just announced a new exhibition called 'Nature and Us', featuring 50 objects exploring our evolving relationship with the natural world, hosted in a hidden gallery.

When 'Nature and Us' debuts on September 16, it will also mark the opening of a gallery sealed off from the public since 1943. Located on the second floor of the Waterhouse building, the vacant space was previously home to the museum's skeleton collection before being used to display mammals. Damage to the NHM's herbarium during World War II led to the room being repurposed to house the displaced botanical collection, at which point it was closed to the public. It has remained that way ever since.

A bryozoan-encrusted Star Wars toy from the 1980s and a replica jaw of one of Britain's earliest known domesticated dogs, dating back around 14,300 years, will also be among the artefacts displayed amid the gallery's original wooden herbarium cabinets.

The exhibition will be a trial run for the revived exhibition space, which will reopen permanently in 2029. Its reinstatement as a public venue is part of the NHM150 campaign, which pledges to open a brand new or revitalised gallery every year until 2031.

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'Nature and Us' will run for 18 months and it will be completely free to visit.