Museum No. 1 (Royal Botanic Gardens)

Address: | Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB |
---|---|
Phone: | 020-8332 5655 |
Website: | www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/explore/attractions/museum-no-1 |
Opening times: | Daily from 9:30; closing time varies according to season (approx. 16:00 in winter, 18:00 in summer) |
How to get there: | Tube: Kew Gardens |
Entry fee: | Admission charge |
Additional information: | Cafés and shop |
Looking out across the Kew Gardens lake towards Decimus Burton’s graceful Palm House is another, more austere, Neoclassical building also designed by Burton, known as Museum No. 1. Opened in 1857, it was the second home for the Museum of Economic Botany, founded in 1841 by Sir William Hooker when he became Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens. He held that post until 1865, and the display of his core teaching collection of specimen textiles, gums, dyes and timber was intended to complement the living plants in the gardens. A protégé of Sir Joseph Banks, who sent Captain Bligh on his ill-fated expedition to transport breadfruit aboard HMS Bounty Hooker had a particular interest in the economic usefulness of plants. The museum was the first of its kind in the world, and the collections grew rapidly, with contributions encouraged from all corners of the Empire. Many, such as an intricate Hindu temple carved out of vegetable ivory, were also received from the Great Exhibition of 1851. The famous expeditions undertaken by explorers like Richard Spruce in South America and Dr Livingstone in Africa also donated a variety of exotic artefacts. Burton’s new building was purpose-built, with as many windows as possible on each elevation to illuminate the showcases with natural light. By 1987, when the museum was closed for extensive refurbishment, the collections contained over 70 thousand different plants and plant products, making them not only the oldest but also the most comprehensive of their type in the world. Curated by the Centre for Economic Botany, they now concentrate on wild and little cultivated plants, especially from Europe and the dry tropics. Museum No. 1 re-opened in 1998 and visitors can now see two rooms on the ground floor, one small part of a visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens themselves. |
- 0 Comment(s)
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES OF LONDON
Details below are taken from our Blue Guide Museums and Galleries of London. This is a 2005 title, here generally updated for website address and opening times, with useful comments from some of the museums themselves. More recent information is given in Emily Barber's magisterial new Blue Guide London, "Exceptional update to a classic and useful guide to this amazing city" (Amazon reader review).
FULL LISTING of CURRENT EXHIBITIONS in London from Apollo Magazine »
Emily Barber recommends five major London museums »
Please do share your comments and updates with us via the form below the entry for each museum.
Your comment