Treasures in the Cadogan gallery

Treasures

Explore 22 objects spanning 4.6 billion years of Earth's history.

Each exhibit tells a remarkable story and has been chosen for its scientific, historical and cultural importance. From a meteorite and moon rock, a dodo to Darwin's pigeons, and the intricate Blaschka glass models, uncover some of the most extraordinary specimens in our collection.

Star specimens and exhibits

  • beautiful butterflies collected by Alfred Russel Wallace
  • original images from John James Audubon's Birds of America book
  • Sir Hans Sloane's beautifully carved nautilus shell
  • an emperor penguin egg collected during Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expedition
  • and don't miss our visitors' favourite, Guy the gorilla

Explore the galleries with the Museum map

Find out how to get around our galleries with the Museum map.

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Collections

Twelve highlights of our Treasures Gallery

A royal lion skull, a Moon rock, a famous gorilla, even Darwin’s pigeons: uncover some of the most extraordinary specimens we care for.

Showcasing nature's secrets

Discover the objects that shook our world view and inspired new insights, in a collaboration between the Museum and Google Arts & Culture.

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Discover the collections

Collections

Hope the whale at the Natural History Museum

Explore the story of how our biggest specimen was moved to its current home. 

Collections

Hope the blue whale: How the largest animal in the world came to the Natural History Museum

Discover the journey of our largest specimen and what science and storytelling have revealed about Hope’s life.

Collections

Mary Anning fossils: Seven highlights from the Jurassic Coast

Discover some of the sensational specimens Mary Anning discovered that are now part of the collections we look after.

Oceans

Prehistoric fish: 11 of the largest, weirdest and most significant

Dive into half a billion years of oceanic evolution, from the first vertebrates to the largest sharks.

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