Collections in the future
The giant cocoon structure in the Museum's Darwin Centre houses 20 million plant and insect specimens. It opened in September 2009.
As the Museum's collections continue to grow, it is necessary to improve and expand our storage facilities. The Museum's Darwin Centre provides world-class storage facilities for collections. It has also created laboratories for Museum scientists and access behind the scenes for Museum visitors.
Of the 80 million specimens in the Natural History Museum, 17 million insect and 3 million plant specimens are looked after in the Darwin Centre and its cocoon building. They are vital to our research in areas like fighting malaria and climate change.
Hundreds of science staff and science visitors from around the world use the cocoon facilities and collections for research and analysis. From fieldwork to laboratory work in the Darwin Centre workspaces, our scientists push forward the boundaries of knowledge and scientific progress.
The conservation and increasing accessibility of the collections provides an invaluable service to the world. They are an irreplaceable and vital source of data that will serve the public and scientists for countless future generations.
