The original nucleus of the Natural History Museum, which was founded in 1754 and moved to its present building in 1881, was formed by the scientific collections of Sir Hans Sloane.

The museum - a palatial building in Romanesque style - was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and is an impressive 675 feet long, with two 190-foot-high towers. Its exterior is faced with terra-cotta slabs bearing relief figures of animals.

Chief among its many artifacts is its original collection of more than 50,000 books, 10,000 preserved animals, and 334 volumes of pressed plant species. The collection has since grown to include more than 80 million items covering zoology, paleontology, mineralogy, entomology, and botany, with a further 500,000 added each year.

The museum is also a center for scientific research specializing in conservation and has many collections of historical value, including specimens collected by Charles Darwin.