Visual Guide for Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep

This is a step-by-step visual guide to help you to plan your visit to Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep at the Natural History Museum, London.

How to find the exhibition space

Jurassic Oceans is closest to the Exhibition Road entrance of the museum. Go straight through the Earth Hall, past the escalator, and down the slope into a small gallery called Lasting Impressions. The exhibition entrance is straight ahead of you through large wooden doors.

If you enter from the main Museum entrance instead, turn right out of Hintze Hall. You will come to the Fossil Marine Reptiles Gallery with large fossil animals displayed on the walls. Turn left at the far end of the corridor into the Birds Gallery. At the end of this corridor is the Jurassic Oceans exhibition ticket desk.

It is best to buy an exhibition ticket from our website before your arrival. You can also buy them at the ticket desk outside the exhibition, but sometimes they sell out. Members of staff here can advise on the different types of tickets. There are discount tickets for disabled people. Disabled people can also book a free companion ticket if you need support.

What to expect in the exhibition

Overview

The exhibition has four main rooms with showcases of objects, touchable objects, films and a stamp trail spread throughout. The rooms are carpeted. There are some metal air vents with air blowing through them. These aren’t carpeted and are a slightly uneven surface. The exhibition is on one level with no steps. You can move through the exhibition at your own pace. If you want to skip any parts of the exhibition, you can do so by passing through to the next area.

If you need help at any point, return to the exhibition entrance where there will be a staff member in a green or blue jacket or top.

The first room is small but there are wide aisles around the showcases. The second room is a large, long room with smaller alcoves throughout, but there is plenty of space. The content is grouped by the type of animal. The third room is the largest. It starts off in a smaller area, then as you go around the corner it opens out into a large open space. There is a large specimen, which is around six metres long, displayed in the centre. The stories are again grouped by type of animal. The final zone is smaller and a quieter, calmer space.

Sound

There is ambient sound playing throughout the exhibition. Some sounds come from a background soundtrack. Others come from films that play out loud. There are no ear cups.

In the third room, the sound for this film is more dynamic as it features marine reptiles hunting.

Four of the Fierce Factor panels have motion-triggered sounds, set off from movement around two metres away. These sounds are quite sudden and may be startling for people with sound sensitivity. If you would like to avoid these sounds, we would recommend booking a ticket for our Relaxed Exhibition Viewings, when these sounds will be turned off.

Alternatively, you are welcome to bring ear defenders. The Museum does not have ear defenders to lend to visitors.

Iguanodon (first room) is the sound of crunching footsteps.

Ammonite (second room) is a squirt and whoosh of water.

Ichthyosaur (third room) is the sound of a tail swishing in water.

Marine crocodile (third room) is a low rumbling growl followed by a snapping crunch.

Lighting

There is medium-level background lighting tinted blue throughout. The third room is noticeably darker blue than the others.

There are lighting effects of water ripples higher up, above eye level.

At eye level, there is also soft lighting mimicking water ripples on the introductory room wall, as well as in the third room on the large, central long-necked plesiosaur cast and on the wall next to it.

In the entrance area and final room there are large silhouettes projected on the floor that move slowly across the space. At the end of the second room there is a silhouette that moves rapidly across the floor. In the third room there is a silhouette that goes on and off by the mosasaur Fierce Factor panel. All these are on a timer to come on about every 15 seconds. For relaxed viewings, the silhouette at the end of the second room will be turned off and the mosasaur silhouette will be static. The slower-moving silhouettes in the entrance and final rooms will remain on as normal.

Touch

There are touchable objects throughout the exhibition that are clearly labelled and are a mixture of real fossils and replicas. You are welcome and encouraged to touch them all.

There are also tactile illustrations on some of the touchable object labels. You are welcome to touch these too.

There is an embossing stamp trail available at the ticket desk. This follows the Fierce Factor panels throughout the exhibition, with nine to collect. Match the Fierce Factor score and clues to the correct animal. Instructions are on the paper trail and at each stamp station: To use the stamps – insert trail paper so chosen circle sits between stamp discs. Pull handle down firmly, then release.

The height of the stamp handle is 83.5cm. The height of where the paper trail is inserted is 71.5cm.

There are two digital interactive screens in the third room.

Smell

There are no interactives featuring smell in the exhibition.

Seating

There is seating spaced throughout the exhibition in every room, beginning at the end of the first room. There are five benches and two individual seats.

Folding chairs can be borrowed from inside the exhibition entrance. Please return these at the end of the exhibition for other visitors to use.

Access resources

Physical Large Print Guides are available inside the exhibition entrance. Please return these at the end of the exhibition for other visitors to use.

A digital Large Print Guide and Audio Guide are available online. These can be accessed via nhm.ac.uk/jurassic-oceans-accessibility-resources or a QR code in the exhibition.

Exhibition Journey

Entry space

After passing the ticket desk, you will walk into an introductory area with an animation of Jurassic creatures projected onto a piece of ceiling-hung fabric in front of you. On the floor there is a large, slowly moving shadow of a marine reptile. There is a soft lighting effect of water ripples on the wall to the right.

Room One – Rise of the Reptiles

To the right of the projection and around a corner is the first part of room one. There is an introductory film and several showcases.

Next to the film is a Fierce Factor panel with a motion-triggered sound effect of footsteps.

Embossing stamp stations are at every Fierce Factor panel. This is the first one.

The second area in this room has a large ichthyosaur touchable object.

At the end you can see the start of room two.

There are two seats at the end of this room.

Room Two – Oceans Full of Life

There is a lighting effect of a water ripple on the ceiling in this room.

All of room two is grouped by the type of animal or environment. There are a mixture of objects, touchable objects, films and sound. There is an introductory film with sound.

This room has an ambient soundtrack.

This Fierce Factor panel to the left-hand side has the motion-triggered sound of squirting water.

On the right there is a film about plankton with gentle sounds, and straight ahead there is a touchable object.

This area goes round a corner and has potential to be narrow if there are crowds.

There is a large, horizontal specimen on the right – a fish tail – and ahead a vertically displayed fossil of a shark. There are touchable objects on both sides.

A mixture of showcases with a touchable object on the right.

A film about sharks with sound is at the end of this section on the left. Bench seating is provided.

Room Three – Marine Reptiles Rule the Seas

The section straight ahead and then round the corner to the left is all about ichthyosaurs. In this first part of room three is a smaller area with three showcases in the middle.

There is a projection of a blue marine reptile silhouette that moves rapidly across the floor around every 15 seconds.

This Fierce Factor panel against the wall behind the showcases, has motion-triggered sounds of a tail splashing in water.

Around the corner to the left is the next part of room three.

This next mini area has large specimens and a touchable object on the right-hand side.

Around the corner to the left, the space begins to open out into a much larger open area, which is the rest of room three.

High above the ichthyosaur model is a soft lighting effect of water ripples.

This next smaller area contains long-necked plesiosaurs. There are several showcases and touchable objects to the right, and farther down on the left.

Also on the right is a digital touch screen with more information about ichthyosaurs and long-necked plesiosaurs.

After this, the room opens out. Straight ahead is a large, central, open display of a long-necked plesiosaur cast, which is about six metres long. This has soft lighting in a water-ripple pattern moving over it, and on parts of the wall on either side of the room.

Grouped around the room, around the central specimen, are stories about other marine reptiles.

At the back of the room there is a large-scale film of marine reptiles projected at height.

Next to this is the entire marine reptiles film with sound. There is bench seating here. Content warning – there are scenes of marine reptiles hunting, one including blood.

To the left of the central specimen, are object showcases and a touchable object about marine crocodiles.

There is bench seating next to two of these showcases.

The Fierce Factor at the start of this section has motion-triggered sounds of a crocodile bellowing and a crunching sound.

Beneath the large-scale projection is a smaller section about pliosaurs. There is a large showcase and an interactive digital screen with more information about pliosaurs.

To the right of the central specimen is a section about mosasaurs. There is a showcase and a touchable object of a mosasaur tooth.

This Fierce Factor has a lit silhouette of a mosasaur that goes on and off intermittently.

Three of the showcases in this room have lighting that subtly increases in intensity and dims down again intermittently, with constant lighting in between.

Transition Area

At the entrance to the final room is a short, darkened transition space with strip lighting on the floor.

Room Four – Today’s Ocean Predators

This final room is a smaller room and a calmer space. There are two films with no sound, but there is an ambient background soundtrack.

There are two sets of bench seating.

You can come to this area if you need a break at any point during your visit to the exhibition.

On the left side is bench seating.

On the right are two showcases featuring modern ocean predators. There is a film projected above each showcase of marine reptiles (right) and mammals (left), which play alternately. The showcase lighting is synchronised with the films.

There is a lighting effect of a shark silhouette projected on the floor of this section that will move slowly across the space. This appears intermittently.

Straight through this last room is the exit where you turn right into the giftshop, then back out into the Museum. There is a return point here for large print guides and stools. You won’t be able to re-enter the exhibition this way once you’ve left the room.

If you need assistance

There are always staff at the front desk who will answer any questions.