NHM: Minerals Gallery

Back blip.

This is the Minerals Gallery at the NHM; it is one of the galleries that has least changed over the years and so retains (almost) its original design. Alfred Waterhouse designed the gallery with low oak cabinets to ensure that it remained bright and felt spacious. The square terracotta columns are decorated with depictions of extinct animals, or at least animals that were thought to be extinct at the time... The coelacanth features, but has since demonstrated that it is still extant (i.e. they were found swimming around in the sea...).

I'm drawn to its symmetry and wonderful openness; I took this photograph from the far end looking back towards the entrance (on the first floor of the central hall). Behind me was The Vault which houses the rarest and most valuable gem stones, minerals, metals, and meteorites.