Visiting the Grant Museum of Zoology – UCL, London

Focus on the Micrarium

Opened in February 2013, the Micrarium is an installation that can be seen at the Grant Museum of Zoology. This ”Place for Tiny Things” as the museum staff calls it, presents 2300 microscope slides on the three walls of a little corner of this big permanent exhibition room.

We often forget it, but a huge majority of species that lives on this planet is of a microscopic scale. However, natural history museums often only display the bigger species that are more convenient to present to the public than microscopic ones.

The initiative of the Grant Museum of Zoology is a great reminder of the diversity of animal life on earth, and is definitely worth a go. For one pound, you can also buy a poster of some slides displayed in the Micrarium, which makes a great souvenir!

The Micrarium © http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/tag/micrarium/

This article was written by Julie Boisard a Master’s student in the Museum’s “Systematics, Evolution, and Paleontology” specialization.