The Horniman Museum and Gardens was founded in 1901 by Victorian tea trader, Frederick Horniman, and was one of the first museums to showcase living collections in an Aquarium, opened in 1903. It was always a hugely popular exhibit but its location across a flight of steps presented access problems.

The new Aquarium opened to the public in July 2006 and has been developed particularly with the Museum’s youngest audiences in mind. It is on one level and includes

seven aquatic habitats; four from Britain and three from around the world. There are 15 large-scale tanks with accessible low-level viewing, and a lift ensures easy access for all. A multi-disciplinary team of curators, architects, project designers, educators, vets and audience advocates, as well as specialists from around the world, have helped to create an innovative and ground-breaking aquatic environment with a focus on learning.

Themed explorer vests offer an extra way of engaging children. Each vest includes an element of a different species, such as thick lensed glasses for the four eye fish, for the children to wear as they walk around the Aquarium.

The £1.5m project was developed with the support of a number of major donors including the Millennium Commission, the Wolfson Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Bridge House Trust.

Between July 2006, when the Aquarium opened, and October 2006, the Aquarium helped to attract 110,000 visitors to the Museum, a 50% increase over the same period in 2005.

Some of your comments:

The Horniman has long been a favourite for me and my family, always offering new displays and exhibits to look at with lots of interesting descriptions.  The aquarium - even before its current make-over - has always been a fascination for adults and children, offering the ideal combination of being educational and fun. Now it really does have the wow-factor and it's a real privilege to have such a amazing resource in our locality. Long may it continue.
Sue Bishop, London SE9 – 9 March

This is not like the picture you have in your mind, when you hear the word, aquarium. This is special. This is living. Have you been to the seashore, and gazed in rockpools? You can here. But beware when, just like the real thing, that big wave comes in. Watch the sea horses ride through the water, and fish as beautiful as butterflies, dart around. Listen to the children visiting, so enthusiastic in seeing it all, they don't want to go when the parents move them on. This is more than you would see at the coast, or river, or even snorkelling unless you are lucky.  It is well worth a visit.
Robert Burridge, Redhill – 18 March

Local museum but definitely not parochial.  The new aquarium is great - loved that so many of the displays are things you can see easily in the British countryside and gardens.  Lovely that the habitats have been reconstructed, not just pretty fish in a tank.  Educational and beautiful all at once.  And the most fabulously mixed clientele I've ever seen in a museum, reflecting the diversity of the local community.
Nessa Carey, Lewisham – 19 March

  Previous     Next  

Top