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The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a museum in Forest Hill, London, Forest Hill, London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style), Modern Style. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and musical instruments, and is known for its large collection of Taxidermy, taxidermied animals. The building is Grade II* Listed building, listed.
It is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and is constituted as a company and Charitable organization, registered charity under English law. In 2022 the museum won Museum of the Year, an award made by the Art Fund.
The museum is set in of gardens, which include the following features:
* A Listed building#Categories of listed buildings, Grade II listed conservatory (greenhouse), conservatory from 1894 which was moved from Hornimans' family house in Croydon to the present site in the 1980s.
* A bandstand from 1912
* An enclosure for small animals
* A Butterfly House
* A nature trail
* An ornamental garden
* Plants for materials, medicines, and foods and dyes
* A sound garden with large musical instruments for playing
* A new building, the Pavilion, for working on materials that are outside of the collections, such as from the gardens.
The gardens are also Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
On the London Road wall of the main building is a Neoclassicism, neoclassical mosaic mural entitled ''Humanity in the House of Circumstance'', designed by Robert Anning Bell and assembled by a group of young women over the course of 210 days. Composed of more than 117,000 individual tesserae, it measures and symbolises personal aspirations and limitations.
The three figures on the far left represent Art, Poetry and Music, standing by a doorway symbolising birth, while the armed figure represents Endurance. The two kneeling figures represent Love and Hope, while the central figure symbolises Humanity. Charity stands to the right bearing figs and wine, followed by white-haired Wisdom holding a staff, and a seated figure representing Meditation. Finally, a figure symbolising Resignation stands by the right-hand doorway, which represents death.
A totem pole, carved from Thuja plicata, red cedar, stands outside the museum's main entrance. It was carved in 1985 as part of the American Arts Festival by Nathan Jackson (artist), Nathan Jackson, a Tlingit Alaska Natives, native Alaskan. The carvings on the pole depict figures from Alaskan legend of a girl who married a bear, with an eagle (Jackson's clan crest) at the top. The pole is one of only a handful of totem poles in the United Kingdom, others being on display at the British Museum, the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Windsor Great Park, Bushy Park, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford, and at Alsford's Wharf in Berkhamsted. p.3
There is also a totem pole in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. It is displayed in their World Cultures galleries.
Image:Horniman Museum interior.jpg, Museum main gallery
Image:HornimanGreenBuildingsmall.jpg, The CUE Building
Image:Conservatory at the Horniman Museum.jpg, The exterior of the conservatory
Image:Horniman Museum Conservatory.jpg, The interior of the conservatory
Image:HornimanBandstandsmall.jpg, The bandstand from 1912
Image:cmglee_Horminan_bandstand.jpg, The bandstand viewed from below in July 2013
Image:Horniman Museum - geograph.org.uk - 1253435.jpg, The Horniman totem pole
Image:Horniman_fruit_bat_skin_skeleton.jpg, A preserved fruit bat showing how the skeleton fits inside its skin
Image:Horniman_turtle_carapace_skeleton.jpg, A preserved turtle skeleton showing how the carapace connects with the rest of the skeleton
Image:Horniman_Museum_walrus.jpg, Canadian walrus
Image:cmglee_Horniman_natural_history_gallery_giraffe.jpg, The Natural History Gallery with the overstuffed walrus replaced with a giraffe model in July 2013
Forest Hill image galleryThe Horniman Museum on Museums London directory of museums in London
{{authority control Grade II listed parks and gardens in London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Lewisham Museums sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Natural history museums in London Charities based in London Musical instrument museums in England Anthropology museums Asian art museums in the United Kingdom Music museums in London Museums in the London Borough of Lewisham Museums established in 1901 Buildings and structures completed in 1901 Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Lewisham Grade II* listed museum buildings Arts and Crafts architecture in England Art Nouveau architecture in London Art Nouveau museum buildings Museums established in 1911 Organisations based in the London Borough of Lewisham
History
The museum was founded in 1901 by Frederick John Horniman. Frederick had inherited his father's Horniman's Tea business, which by 1891 had become the world's biggest tea trading business. The proceeds from the business allowed Horniman to indulge his lifelong passion for collecting, and which after travelling extensively had some 30,000 items in his various collections, covering natural history, cultural artefacts and musical instruments. In 1911, an additional building to the west of the main building, originally containing a lecture hall and library, was donated by Frederick Horniman's son Emslie Horniman. This was also designed by Townsend. A new extension, opened in 2002, was designed by Allies and Morrison. The museum won the Art Fund's Museum of the Year award in 2022. In November 2022, the museum returned a collection of 72 items that were stolen from the Kingdom of Benin, including Benin Bronzes, to Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments.Collections
The Horniman specialises in anthropology, natural history and musical instruments and has a collection of 350,000 objects. The ethnography and music collections have Designation Scheme, Designated status. One of its most famous exhibits is the large collection of stuffed animals. It also has an aquarium noted for its . The Horniman housed some of the Benin Bronzes until 28 November 2022, when they were signed back unconditionally to Nigeria, from where the pieces were looted in 1897 by British troops.Floor directory
Transport connections
Gardens
The museum is set in of gardens, which include the following features:
* A Listed building#Categories of listed buildings, Grade II listed conservatory (greenhouse), conservatory from 1894 which was moved from Hornimans' family house in Croydon to the present site in the 1980s.
* A bandstand from 1912
* An enclosure for small animals
* A Butterfly House
* A nature trail
* An ornamental garden
* Plants for materials, medicines, and foods and dyes
* A sound garden with large musical instruments for playing
* A new building, the Pavilion, for working on materials that are outside of the collections, such as from the gardens.
The gardens are also Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
Mosaic
On the London Road wall of the main building is a Neoclassicism, neoclassical mosaic mural entitled ''Humanity in the House of Circumstance'', designed by Robert Anning Bell and assembled by a group of young women over the course of 210 days. Composed of more than 117,000 individual tesserae, it measures and symbolises personal aspirations and limitations.
The three figures on the far left represent Art, Poetry and Music, standing by a doorway symbolising birth, while the armed figure represents Endurance. The two kneeling figures represent Love and Hope, while the central figure symbolises Humanity. Charity stands to the right bearing figs and wine, followed by white-haired Wisdom holding a staff, and a seated figure representing Meditation. Finally, a figure symbolising Resignation stands by the right-hand doorway, which represents death.
Totem pole
A totem pole, carved from Thuja plicata, red cedar, stands outside the museum's main entrance. It was carved in 1985 as part of the American Arts Festival by Nathan Jackson (artist), Nathan Jackson, a Tlingit Alaska Natives, native Alaskan. The carvings on the pole depict figures from Alaskan legend of a girl who married a bear, with an eagle (Jackson's clan crest) at the top. The pole is one of only a handful of totem poles in the United Kingdom, others being on display at the British Museum, the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Windsor Great Park, Bushy Park, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford, and at Alsford's Wharf in Berkhamsted. p.3
There is also a totem pole in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. It is displayed in their World Cultures galleries.
CUE building
The Horniman Museum contains the CUE (Centre for Understanding the Environment) building. This opened in 1996 and was designed by local architects Archetype using methods developed by Walter Segal. The building has a grass roof and was constructed from sustainable materials. It also incorporates passive ventilation.Gallery
See also
* List of music museumsReferences
External links
*Forest Hill image gallery
{{authority control Grade II listed parks and gardens in London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Lewisham Museums sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Natural history museums in London Charities based in London Musical instrument museums in England Anthropology museums Asian art museums in the United Kingdom Music museums in London Museums in the London Borough of Lewisham Museums established in 1901 Buildings and structures completed in 1901 Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Lewisham Grade II* listed museum buildings Arts and Crafts architecture in England Art Nouveau architecture in London Art Nouveau museum buildings Museums established in 1911 Organisations based in the London Borough of Lewisham