There are so many impressive museums in London that it should be difficult to choose just one to recommend before all of the others. The Grant makes this easy because it’s infamous for one thing – a jar full of moles. Regardless of whether pickled moles is your particular cup of tea, it’s wellmworth popping in to sample this quirky collection (and it’s free!).
Where? The Grant Museum of Zoology, Rockefeller Building, UCL, 21 University Street, London WC1E 6DE
Why? The tiny Victoria specimen slide room is like time travel – it takes you back 150 years to remote islands, to verdant jungles, to vast deserts and to every other corner of the world frequented by over-dressed British explorers in pith helmets looking for new things to capture and study under the microscope.
The little chap pictured above is labelled: DECAPODA Palinura. Palinurus sp. “Phyllosorna” South Pacific. J.P.H. So now you know.
** Mole-free review **
I highly recommend this great little museum based solely on one display: a 1m x 1m x 3m walk-in room walled with Victorian specimen slides backlit as well as any iMac. Each slide has a label handwritten by some long-gone botanist or biologist. There are even magnifying glasses on hand to encourage you to lose yourself in the details.
Outside of this miniature world is the rest of the museum … and, of course, the moles.
For another London museum tip, read my post Where … to find a brain in London.