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Botanical Drawings in Darwin Centre
Darwin Centre opens with spectacular Cocoon building at its heart
Fine botanical drawings on view
By Martin Bailey
Published online 16 Sep 09 (Museums)
The specimen wall in the Cocoon building at the new Darwin Centre. Copyright: The Natural History Museum
London. The Darwin Centre, which opened on 15 September, houses the Natural History Museum’s scientific specimens, as well as its historical collections. Inside its Cocoon building is a special store for the early herbaria. These folio-size leather volumes of preserved plant specimens also include fine botanical drawings.
Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), founder of the British Museum, assembled an important herbarium, which includes what is probably the first sample of cocoa to reach Europe. After his death the 126 volumes went to the British Museum, which set up a natural history section in South Kensington in 1981 (it only became a separate institution in 1963).
Two other important collections are the herbaria of Anglo-Dutch merchant George Clifford (1685-1760) and Captain Cook’s botanist Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820). The museum has also recently acquired an early herbarium assembled in southern Germany in the 16th century. These can be examined by scholars or interested members of the public, by appointment.
The main building of the Darwin Centre cost £78m, which was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (£20.5m), the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (£10.7m) and the Wellcome Trust (£10m).
The heart of the building is the 65m-long, eight-storey high Cocoon, a vaguely egg-shaped structure designed by Danish architects C.F. Møller (they are also building an extension to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, due to open in 2012).
The Cocoon houses 17 million insects and three million plants, which are kept as dried specimens, along with facilities for 200 scientists. The upper floors provide exhibition space for visitors (entrance is free, with timed tickets), which is entered from the original 1881 Alfred Waterhouse building. On the other side is the first part of the Darwin Centre, completed in 2002 to house 22 million zoological specimens in alcohol—and known as the spirit collection.
Fine botanical drawings on view
By Martin Bailey
Published online 16 Sep 09 (Museums)
The specimen wall in the Cocoon building at the new Darwin Centre. Copyright: The Natural History Museum
London. The Darwin Centre, which opened on 15 September, houses the Natural History Museum’s scientific specimens, as well as its historical collections. Inside its Cocoon building is a special store for the early herbaria. These folio-size leather volumes of preserved plant specimens also include fine botanical drawings.
Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), founder of the British Museum, assembled an important herbarium, which includes what is probably the first sample of cocoa to reach Europe. After his death the 126 volumes went to the British Museum, which set up a natural history section in South Kensington in 1981 (it only became a separate institution in 1963).
Two other important collections are the herbaria of Anglo-Dutch merchant George Clifford (1685-1760) and Captain Cook’s botanist Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820). The museum has also recently acquired an early herbarium assembled in southern Germany in the 16th century. These can be examined by scholars or interested members of the public, by appointment.
The main building of the Darwin Centre cost £78m, which was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (£20.5m), the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (£10.7m) and the Wellcome Trust (£10m).
The heart of the building is the 65m-long, eight-storey high Cocoon, a vaguely egg-shaped structure designed by Danish architects C.F. Møller (they are also building an extension to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, due to open in 2012).
The Cocoon houses 17 million insects and three million plants, which are kept as dried specimens, along with facilities for 200 scientists. The upper floors provide exhibition space for visitors (entrance is free, with timed tickets), which is entered from the original 1881 Alfred Waterhouse building. On the other side is the first part of the Darwin Centre, completed in 2002 to house 22 million zoological specimens in alcohol—and known as the spirit collection.
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