First meteorite fall recovered in the UK for 30 years goes on display at the Natural History Museum

·        The Natural History Museum will reopen to the public on Monday 17 May from 10.00-18.00 daily. It is essential visitors book a free timed ticket in advance online at nhm.ac.uk

·        Visitors will be the first to get up close to a piece of the Winchcombe meteorite which landed in February, an extremely rare type of meteorite and the first fall to have been recovered from the UK in 30 years, now on display at the Museum

·        New temporary offers include the free Our Broken Planet: How We Got Here and Ways to Fix It opening 21 May, the 5-star reviewed Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature and the iconic Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Museum Director, Dr Doug Gurr says: ‘Our doors may have been closed to the public but our 300 scientists have been hard at work – we’re thrilled to be able to share a snapshot of their research with visitors – the over 4.5 billion year old Winchcombe meteorite and a brand new species of mineral from Cornwall.’

‘As well as our world-class galleries, visitors will be able to explore three new temporary exhibitions: Our Broken Planet: How We Got Here and Ways to Fix It, which is free to enter, the much-anticipated Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature, and our ever-popular Wildlife Photographer of the Year. With a smaller capacity than previous summers, brand new displays and an overwhelmingly high visitor rating, it’s the perfect time to visit to enjoy a VIP experience!’

As before, measures will be in place to ensure visitors and staff enjoy a safe experience. To help manage the number of people in the Museum at any one time, capacity will be significantly reduced. It will be essential to book a free timed ticket in advance online at nhm.ac.uk. Museum Members and Patrons will have priority booking before it opens to the public; they will also benefit from fast-track entry.

Visitors are urged to only book free admission slots they know they can attend and to cancel as far in advance as possible if they have to change their plans, to ensure their ticket can be made available to other bookers.

The vast majority of the Museum’s galleries will be open alongside its five-acre gardens. Food and drink will be available to purchase either as takeaways or to enjoy at socially distanced seating. Transactions will be contactless where possible, but cash will be accepted.

Both the Museum’s main entrance on Cromwell Road and its Exhibition Road entrances will be open.

‘While you were away’ display

Visitors to the Museum will be among the first in the world to see a fragment of the awe-inspiring Winchcombe meteorite that fell to Earth as a fireball in February this year, as well as a new mineral from Cornwall which Museum scientists discover - named kernowite. The new display, located in the Vault alongside treasures such as the Aurora Pyramid of Hope, a collection of 296 naturally coloured diamonds, sits at the back of the Mineral Gallery and represents just a small selection of the fascinating work achieved by our scientists over the lockdown period.

Prof Caroline Smith, Head of Earth Sciences Collections and Principal Curator of Meteorites at the Museum says ‘The Winchcombe meteorite is a carbonaceous chondrite, an extremely rare type of meteorite that holds crucial information about the origins of our solar system. It was recovered just hours after it was seen to fall and has had minimal terrestrial contact. To be able to put it on public display is hugely exciting!’

Displayed next to the meteorite is a newly discovered mineral named kernowite. For over 220 years this specimen, taken from the Collection, was thought to be the mineral liroconite. It was not until December 2020 that an international team of scientists led by the Museum discovered it had a different chemical composition, meaning it was a new species. The team chose its name to reflect its place of discovery; Kernow is Cornwall in the Cornish language.

Both these specimens highlight the importance of Museum collections in documenting our past and preserving precious materials for future research. In 2020 alone, our 300 scientists identified 503 new species to science including a new species of seaweed and several species of algae – both important for economic and food security – as well as 170 new species of beetle and 70 new wasps. With over 80 million specimens spanning 4.5 billion years, the Collection is a powerful scientific tool.

Three new temporary offers

Our Broken Planet: How We Got Here and Ways to Fix It opening on 21 May is a brand-new free display offering a fascinating look through the Museum’s collection. Each object has been selected by one of the Museum’s scientists and tells a different story about human impact on the planet. From bats to bees, the world’s largest butterfly to a 3m Black Marlin, the display is an exploration of the power of humans and the resilience of nature. The programme looks at the context of the current pandemic as well as how NHM scientists are finding solutions from nature for nature.

The Museum’s popular Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition and the 5-star reviewed Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature, the result of a creative partnership between the Museum, the BBC and Warner Bros, will both reopen on Monday 17 May after closing just days into their run due to lockdown restrictions.

Notes to editors

Natural History Museum Media
Tel: +44799690151
Email: press@nhm.ac.uk

Images available to download here.

The Our Broken Planet display is available for a media preview on 18 May, for further detail email: press@nhm.ac.uk

Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature closes in South Kensington on 3 January 2022 to embark on a five-year international tour.

Preliminary curation and investigation of the Winchcombe meteorite by the UK planetary science community is partly funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

The Natural History Museum is both a world-leading science research centre and the most-visited natural history museum in Europe. With a vision of a future in which both people and the planet thrive, it is uniquely positioned to be a powerful champion for balancing humanity’s needs with those of the natural world.

It is custodian of one of the world’s most important scientific collections comprising over 80 million specimens. The scale of this collection enables researchers from all over the world to document how species have and continue to respond to environmental changes - which is vital in helping predict what might happen in the future and informing future policies and plans to help the planet.

The Museum’s 300 scientists continue to represent one of the largest groups in the world studying and enabling research into every aspect of the natural world. Their science is contributing critical data to help the global fight to save the future of the planet from the major threats of climate change and biodiversity loss through to finding solutions such as the sustainable extraction of natural resources.

The Museum uses its enormous global reach and influence to meet its mission to create advocates for the planet - to inform, inspire and empower everyone to make a difference for nature. We welcome over five million visitors each year; our digital output reaches hundreds of thousands of people in over 200 countries each month and our touring exhibitions have been seen by around 30 million people in the last 10 years.