This stunning piece of Romanesque architecture dating from 1881 is the main exhibition space. This is all most people ever experience of the Natural History Museum—the rest happens behind the scenes.

What’s inside? Specimens of all descriptions, from animal to plant to mineral. The building itself boasts “specimens” of its own: intricate frescoes and terra-cotta carvings of plants and animals, intended by architect Alfred Waterhouse to represent life’s diversity.