What is it?
Founded in 1828 for the purposes of teaching comparative anatomy, University College London’s Grant Museum is housed in a former Edwardian library and retains the air of an avid Victorian collector’s house, even while offering visitors the opportunity to engage in dialogue about evolutionary history via smartphones and iPads.
Its 68,000 specimen collection encompasses many rare and extinct creatures, including skeletons of the dodo and the zebra-like quagga (which lived in South Africa and was hunted out of existence in the 1880s, and some real oddities like the collection of brains and bisected heads.
Reopened in February 2024 after a year-long £300,000 refurb, the Bloomsbury museum now features six new showcases exploring humanity’s impact on biodiversity and highlighting the use of the collections in several cutting-edge research projects conducted by the university.
Why go?
As the only zoological museum remaining in London, this place is unique. Yes, some of the specimens will haunt your dreams well after your visit, but it’s macabre and fascinating stuff.
Don’t miss:
One of the most head-turning exhibits is the ‘jar of moles’, which at one point even had its own Twitter account. It literally is a huge glass jar crammed full of 18 whole, perfectly preserved moles.
When to visit:
Tue-Fri: 1pm-5pm, Sat: 11am-5pm. Peak times on Saturdays.
Ticketing info:
Free.
Time Out tip:
I can‘t wait to visit a new virtual reality experience, which will ‘flood’ the institution and transform it into a coral reef so you can dive among healthy and degraded coral. It’s free and will be at the museum until January 2025.
See more of London's best museums and discover our guide to the very best things to do in London.