★★★★★ 5.0
Discover
Grant Museum of Zoology
That glass case on your right holds one of the world's seven remaining quagga skeletons... the very last of a South African zebra species that vanished in 1883. You're standing in London's final university natural history museum, tucked inside what was once UCL's medical school library in the Rockefeller Building on University Street. The Victorian wooden cases around you tell an incredible story that started in 1828 when Robert Edmond Grant, Charles Darwin's former teacher, created this collection as England's first zoology teaching museum. For 168 years, only students could peek at these 68,000 specimens crammed into every drawer and cabinet. The public didn't get inside until 1996. Look closely at those jellyfish models... they're actually handcrafted glass from the famous Blaschka workshop, so delicate they seem to float in their cases. Darwin himself might have studied specimens just like these when Grant was shaping his revolutionary thinking about evolution.
Did You Know?
- Founded in 1828 by Robert Edmond Grant—England’s first professor of zoology and comparative anatomy—the Grant Museum is one of the oldest university zoological museums in the UK and is London’s last remaining university zoology museum, offering a direct link to the origins of scientific teaching in the city. Its creation was radical for its time, emphasizing hands-on learning with skeletons and wet specimens rather than traditional taxidermy, a practice that continues to distinguish it from other natural history museums.
- The museum’s collection of over 68,000 specimens includes some of the rarest skeletons in the world, such as the quagga (an extinct subspecies of zebra) and the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), both hunted to extinction during the British colonial era—these specimens not only tell a story of biodiversity loss but also reflect the complex legacy of the British Empire in natural science. The museum actively explores these colonial connections through exhibitions like 'Displays of Power,' which critically examines how empire shaped the collection and the narratives of natural history.
- Hidden within the museum is the 'Micrarium,' a unique and enchanting display featuring thousands of microscopic slides of tiny creatures, offering visitors—especially children—a chance to peer into the often invisible world of microorganisms. This interactive feature, alongside the museum’s Victorian 'cabinet of curiosities' aesthetic with its wooden and glass cases, creates an immersive, exploratory experience that feels like stepping back in time while engaging with cutting-edge science education.