London’s Natural History Museum has announced plans to completely redisplay the Hintze Hall, which welcomes visitors as they enter the building. As part of this, the diplodocus cast that has sat there for 35 years is to be replaced by the museum’s vast skeleton of a blue whale.
The change, to be made in summer 2017, is part of a wider 10-year plan to transform the museum and focus on the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Museums Journal speaks to Sandy Knapp, a botanist at the Natural History Museum, about the public debate that has arisen out of the decision to move the blue whale to the Hintze Hall and the museum’s new strategy to engage audiences.
What does the debate about the planned changes to the Hintze Hall say about what goes on display in museums and why?
The intensity of the discussion about the relative merits of displaying the whale skeleton or the diplodocus model has been fascinating. It really shows that strong emotional connection people have with museum displays, and that people really care about the role museums play. It means that the exhibits are making us think at a variety of levels, in our hearts as well as our heads.
What one remembers most about a museum is a highly individual experience – my children spent many hours in the Natural History Museum, and brought me drawings of what caught their fancy. While all children, mine included, love dinosaurs, the whale skeleton is what they drew the most. I think they were just captivated by the sheer size of something that was still alive today.
Why is it important to move the focus to today's natural world?
The planet we live on has changed since it was formed, and will continue to change – both through natural processes, such as that which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, and through our own human actions.
Today, as never before we – our own species, Homo sapiens – are effecting huge changes on the Earth, bringing a complex set of challenges both to human societies and to the other organisms with which we share the planet.
Natural history museums play a key role in providing the evidence for these changes, and in providing food for thought about how we address these challenges in the future.
Hintze Hall is a place where the museum can bring those threads together – the past, the present and the future. Change is not just about the past – it is happening all around us, and we can do something about it. So an iconic specimen of a species still alive on the planet today makes that link in a very special way.
What role can natural history museums have in creating a more sustainable future for the world?
Museums have a really important role in helping people discover different perspectives on life on Earth, and it has never been more important for us to think about the challenges facing our planet.
In addition to having public displays, natural history museums are guardians of scientific collections that are used to help address some of these challenges. These collections are not static but grow and are used. Most importantly, they are essential for addressing scientific questions.
At the Natural History Museum we do projects that could help eradicate parasitic diseases in Africa, could help provide new ways to use and recover precious minerals essential for today’s society, assess how climate change has affected British orchids, and many more.
The links between displays and these resources I hope will encourage reflection on how our knowledge of the past can be used to help society create a more sustainable future.
What role will the museum’s new strategy play in this?
As I said before museums, like the world around us, are always changing. The challenges we face as a society, living on (as far as we know) the only habitable planet in the universe, are immense. Our new strategy will help us to bring these challenges to the fore, using public displays and research on collections.
Our overarching themes of origin and evolution (from the solar system to our planet to the life with which we share it), biodiversity and sustainable futures will allow us to use the breadth of our science and the strength of our public reach, as demonstrated through the discussion around the whale and diplodocus, to build conversations about the natural world in all its amazing diversity, past, present and future.
The change, to be made in summer 2017, is part of a wider 10-year plan to transform the museum and focus on the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Museums Journal speaks to Sandy Knapp, a botanist at the Natural History Museum, about the public debate that has arisen out of the decision to move the blue whale to the Hintze Hall and the museum’s new strategy to engage audiences.
What does the debate about the planned changes to the Hintze Hall say about what goes on display in museums and why?
The intensity of the discussion about the relative merits of displaying the whale skeleton or the diplodocus model has been fascinating. It really shows that strong emotional connection people have with museum displays, and that people really care about the role museums play. It means that the exhibits are making us think at a variety of levels, in our hearts as well as our heads.
What one remembers most about a museum is a highly individual experience – my children spent many hours in the Natural History Museum, and brought me drawings of what caught their fancy. While all children, mine included, love dinosaurs, the whale skeleton is what they drew the most. I think they were just captivated by the sheer size of something that was still alive today.
Why is it important to move the focus to today's natural world?
The planet we live on has changed since it was formed, and will continue to change – both through natural processes, such as that which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, and through our own human actions.
Today, as never before we – our own species, Homo sapiens – are effecting huge changes on the Earth, bringing a complex set of challenges both to human societies and to the other organisms with which we share the planet.
Natural history museums play a key role in providing the evidence for these changes, and in providing food for thought about how we address these challenges in the future.
Hintze Hall is a place where the museum can bring those threads together – the past, the present and the future. Change is not just about the past – it is happening all around us, and we can do something about it. So an iconic specimen of a species still alive on the planet today makes that link in a very special way.
What role can natural history museums have in creating a more sustainable future for the world?
Museums have a really important role in helping people discover different perspectives on life on Earth, and it has never been more important for us to think about the challenges facing our planet.
In addition to having public displays, natural history museums are guardians of scientific collections that are used to help address some of these challenges. These collections are not static but grow and are used. Most importantly, they are essential for addressing scientific questions.
At the Natural History Museum we do projects that could help eradicate parasitic diseases in Africa, could help provide new ways to use and recover precious minerals essential for today’s society, assess how climate change has affected British orchids, and many more.
The links between displays and these resources I hope will encourage reflection on how our knowledge of the past can be used to help society create a more sustainable future.
What role will the museum’s new strategy play in this?
As I said before museums, like the world around us, are always changing. The challenges we face as a society, living on (as far as we know) the only habitable planet in the universe, are immense. Our new strategy will help us to bring these challenges to the fore, using public displays and research on collections.
Our overarching themes of origin and evolution (from the solar system to our planet to the life with which we share it), biodiversity and sustainable futures will allow us to use the breadth of our science and the strength of our public reach, as demonstrated through the discussion around the whale and diplodocus, to build conversations about the natural world in all its amazing diversity, past, present and future.
