LONDON: Natural History Museum, A Cathedral To Nature

Without a doubt, one of my favorite things about London (or probably in England) would be the free museums. There's no excuse for you not to learn something new everyday, or with each visit.

Trivia Time! Sir Hans Sloane, a renowned collector of over 71,000 objects of natural history, gave all of his collections to the British Museum. However, since the collection of natural history items continued to grow over the years, all of these were then moved to what is known to be the Natural History Museum today. It was Sir Owen Richards who had the initiative to have another venue for all these objects to be housed in.

Just like the V&A Museum, Sir Owen Richards very much wanted for the museum to be accessible to all for the sake of learning. During the 1900s, museums all over Europe originally were only for the few people who could afford to enter. But now at present, anyone can go in and study or simply take a look around.

I admire the vision of these founders because museums are great avenues for people to learn more about the world around them without having to go far. It's like the world instead was brought nearer to you. And you can choose to visit it anytime you want without paying (and at least people's taxes are being put into good use, evidently.). There's also so much to learn already from the people who've been there. It's their lifetime's worth of work and discovery.

This building was designed by Architect Alfred Waterhouse. It's considered to be an iconic Romanesque landmark in London. Truly amazing for me to think that all these landmarks have been so well maintained and preserved. The outside was grand, but what more the inside?

Admission is free. If I were still in grade school, I'd totally go here to do my homework, because most of the things I've read in my science textbooks can be found here. I think I've written something along these lines as well when I wrote about my visit to the Britsh Museum :')

This is the Hintze Hall, which is considered to be the largest public gallery in the museum, as it is an open space with the huge blue whale skeleton hanging at the center. Ignorant me first thought: dinosaur?? Lol. But a closer look and by reading the museum label, I learned that this was the full skeleton of a blue whale. Fantastic. 

One can admire all these beautifully Romanesque arches, too. 

This giant blue whale skeleton was placed here to be a sign and reminder of our responsibility in taking care of our planet.

It's simply beautiful. Every bone, every detail, and just the entire structure, really. 

Don't forget to look up at the ceiling in these kinds of places. Every corner has natural history imprinted on it, as if everything is interconnected. 

These were called hidden treasures above our heads. Look beyond the blue whale skeleton installation. Please don't miss this!

Alfred Waterhouse worked closely with Owen Richards in designing a building with architecture that echoed the wonderful variety of specimens in the collection. Even the ceiling is adorned with life, what with all the hand-painted illustrations of plants from around the world. These plants are of economic, medicinal, and horticultural importance; from tea and coffee to opium poppies and aloe plants. 

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Moving on to some of the interesting things I saw in the museum: 

The book that Charles Darwin wrote: The Origin of Species

♡ say hello to my beloved mother ♡♡ Have you seen a Sequoia tree? I went on a roadtrip with my sister in my last US trip to see these giant trees, and for me it's remained to be one of my favorite roadtrips in my life. It's one of the largest organisms to exist in this earth.

Hello, ostrich.

Here is the Minerals Gallery, filled with oak display cabinets which houses all the gems, raw minerals, meteorites, all in different colors, unimaginable shapes, and sizes.

You could simply just spend the whole day looking around and seeing all these different kinds of minerals. I think a day isn't even enough to fully comprehend everything that's present here.

I'm loving emeralds simply because they're green in color. ♡♡♡♡

Diamond or gold? I think I'll go with gold. While diamonds look aesthetically pleasing on the outside, gold holds much more value. Something I learned as well in this visit.

Spot the monkey.

Yet another overview, this time from the second floor!

Hello to the naturalist who changed the way we see the natural world and our place within it:

"Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illuminations of men's minds, which follows the advance of science." - Charles Darwin 

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The Natural History Museum is right beside the V&A Museum! It's really worth it to see both of these museums when in London. :-)

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