The Natural History Museum is an offspring of the British Museum, which by the 1860's had such copious collections that it needed a separate place for Natural History.
A competition was held for the design. One architect won it, with an even grander design than we see today; he died, and another architect completed it. The Museum opened in 1881.
The cathedral-like building features a dome, columns, sculptures of plants and animals, and the kind of magnificent excess seen in the archway above.
*photos (c) Teresa Plowright
