Fans of the Natural History Museum, rejoice, because it has just opened an exciting new permanent gallery, Treasures, which looks to be a big hitter. Curators have selected 22 extra-special objects from the museum’s vast collection, which heaves with 70 million specimens. From moon rock to a 147-million-year-old fossil, all of the specimens chosen for the gallery have fascinating stories behind them and are of “enormous scientific, historical and cultural significance”, according to museum director Dr Michael Dixon.

Following a sneaky peak of the collection, we’ve picked five of our favourite treasures:

1.    Guy the Gorilla

This stuffed ape was once one of the best-loved animals in London Zoo’s history. The western lowland gorilla first arrived at the zoo on Guy Fawkes Night 1947, hence his name. Clutching a hot water bottle, Guy was so terrified of the fireworks that he wouldn’t sleep until a keeper slept beside him. Visitors loved Guy for his gentle nature as he was known to catch small birds that flew into his enclosure, peer at them curiously and then let them go. Guy died of heart failure in 1978 after dental surgery. Taxidermist Arthur Hayward then spent nine months preparing him for display.

2.    Neanderthal skull

This 50,000-year-old specimen was the first Neanderthal skull ever discovered and has played a huge role in the study of ancient humans. “Researchers have had access to this skull for years, but this is the first time it has been on public display,” says museum researcher Chris Stringer.

3.    The world’s most expensive book

One of the best-known natural history books ever produced, Audubon‘s The Birds of America is renowned for its beautiful life-size, hand-coloured illustrations of birds. With only 120 copies in the entire world, complete bound sets can fetch a staggering £7 million. The museum is displaying a different page of the book every month to prevent fading.

4.    Barbary lion skull

Plucked from the Tower of London’s moat by two workmen in 1937, this Barbary lion is thought to have been part of the royal menagerie from around 1280-1385. “People living nearby must have been petrified to hear the lion’s roar,” says collection manager Richard Sabin.

5.    Charles Darwin’s pigeons

Bred in his garden as an experiment, Darwin‘s pigeons provided him with the evidence he needed to prove the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Treasures at the Natural History Museum opens on 30 November 2012

If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind those imposing walls at the Bank of England, find out by visiting the free museum inside the bank.

The Bank of England Museum traces the history of the bank from 1694 to the present day and explores the history of money, the building and the employees.

While the collections of coins are rather impressive, some of the most facinating items tell the story of the people who worked there. An area is devoted to Kenneth Grahame, author of Wind in the Willows who worked at the bank and his letters tell how he left rather abruptly. I also enjoyed seeing the smart hat and gaiters worn by a women porter who worked at the bank during the first world war.

The current special exhibition, The Pound In Your Pocket explores absolutely everything you ever wanted to know about inflation, including an interactive toy that replicated the challenge of controlling inflation and avoiding economic shock. I found it quite impossible to balance, which I guess was the point!

Bank of England Museum, open Monday to Friday (closed bank holidays), 10:00 – 17:00 (last entry at 16:45). Admission free. www.bankofengland.co.uk

London Design Festival kicks off on 18 September, with creative events all over London. Here writer John Simmons tells us about an exciting project at the V&A:

You can – people do – get very carried away by what’s meant by British identity. Personally I believe it’s reflected in websites like this one because modern Britain is influenced by all the countries of the world. But if you go back a little further, do you take a different view?

Try, for example, the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. An amazing and grand Victorian building, stuffed like an enormous Old Curiosity Shop with precious, often bizarre objects from around the world.

Let me point you, though, to one particular part of the Museum – the British Galleries, 1500-1760. Walk through and you get a sense of what Britain has been – and in many ways still is.

The Galleries embody a sense of curiosity about the world, an openness to a wider view that also allows the individual to retreat to and enjoy private meditations. You won’t like everything, but that’s perfectly fine.

During the London Design Festival, the Galleries will be given an extra degree of curiosity and reflection. As part of a project called 26 Treasures, 26 writers have been randomly paired with 26 objects from the British Galleries. They’ve then responded in writing (exactly 62 words, “26 in reflection”) to each of the objects – a personal response, sometimes poetry, sometimes prose, but necessarily succinct.

The writing ranges from the meditative to the laugh-out-loud funny. The objects include the Great Bed of Ware, Mr No-Body’s Drinking Flask, the wedding suit of King James, a locket with a caul and a bust of Homer. The objects inspired the writers to think and feel, then to express thoughts and feelings in ways that make visitors look at the objects in a different light, intrigued by what they have read and seen. Which seems a good purpose for Britain in 2010 too.

John Simmons is a writer and founder of 26.

You can find out more from:

• www.26treasures.com
• www.londondesignfestival.com
• www.vam.ac.uk

26Treasures – Trailer from 26treasures on Vimeo.

This week’s photo features the Geffrye Museum‘s gardens on a lovely summer day. The museum has five attractive walled gardens, including a traditional herb garden with plants for medicine, cosmetic use and cooking.

If you’re out and about enjoying London this week, don’t forget to take some photos and add them to the Visit London Flickr pool.

The Science Museum has announced it will open a new climate science gallery in November. Atmosphere: exploring climate science will feature hands-on exhibits and displays explaining how the climate system works.

The gallery is one of many exciting new developments at the Science Museum this year. Look out for the museum’s new Who Am I? gallery, due to open later this month.

London’s Jewish Museum is getting ready to re-open following a £10 million transformation. I took a look around the building this morning, as the builders and curators put finishing touches to the displays.

Located in Camden, the revamped museum will be great for school groups, families, and anyone that wants to find out more about Jewish culture in London. Highlights of the permanent exhibition include:

• a Medieval mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) built into the floor
• the stories of Jewish people in Britain today, from a marathon-running grandmother to a smoked salmon producer
• a grand 17th-century ark made from carved wood, which was used to hold torah scrolls in a synagogue
• a recreation of a family table set for Sabbath dinner, complete with sound effects and the smell of chicken soup
• a section on Yiddish theatre, including an opportunity to dress up and try Yiddish theatre karaoke
• a room dedicated to the memories of a holocaust survivor

Temporary exhibitions and special events such as music, performance, comedy and film will kick off shortly after the opening. There’s also a café, gift shop and 100-seat auditorium.

The ground floor gallery is free to visit, including the mikveh bath and stories of contemporary Jewish people in Britain. You’ll need to buy a ticket (£7, concessions available) to if you want to explore the rest of the museum.

The Jewish Museum opens on 17 March

The elves are hard at work in the grotto, Santa is logging all the children’s Christmas wishes, and even the reindeer,  Jingle and Bell,  have been keeping out of mischief long enough to entertain the crowds on the Piazza!

There are still a host of exciting activities in store at Covent Garden in the run-up to Christmas for both adults and children.

Grown-ups can stock up on festive fare at the Covent Garden Real Food Market.

Children can meet Santa and his elves at the grotto or learn how to make their own unique Christmas costume at workshops on Sunday 20 December between 1pm and 3pm. 

There will also be a  free children’s theatre performance from the enchanting Peut-ȇtre Theatre Company taking place between 11am and 1pm on Saturday.

In that time, there have been significant advances in genetics and related scientific fields, so the gallery is being updated next year. I went along to the Science Museum to see what the new gallery has in store.

Who Am I? explores our identity through brain science and genetics. The new gallery will be divided into four zones, looking at areas such as what it means to be human and how our physical attributes define us.

Each zone will look at individual case studies, as well the science behind them. These true stories include reconstructing the entire jaw of a man who had been shot in the face; creating an immune system for a baby born without one (who has grown into a healthy child); and the life of man unable to form new memories.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the Science Museum without some impressive interactive exhibits! In the new galleries you can explore what happens to the brain when faced with a moral dilemma; do your best to spot “micro-expressions” which give away even the most accomplished liar; change the gender of your voice and, if you’re brave, see how your face will age in the future.

Additions to the Who Am I? gallery include a new entrance, brand new artworks by Dryden Goodwin and Revital Cohen, new objects, and an updates area where the newest scientific techniques will be added.

The Who Am I? gallery will be relaunched in June 2010. If you can’t wait until then, the current exhibition is open until early January. And it’s free!

Paul Floyd Blake took the top prize for his portrait of 13-year-old swimmer Rosie Bancroft, who hopes to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games.

Blake says, “She had just swum a personal best in her event and I think that’s why she has such a confident, self-assured look in the portrait.”

You can see Blake’s photo and the best of the other entries in a free exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from tomorrow.

Dubbed “the cocoon”, the £78m building houses 17 million insects and three million plant specimens.

But the exhibits aren’t the only attraction.

You also get to observe some of the 200 scientists at work in the centre, and there are plenty of opportunities to meet the experts and ask questions.

In the Attenborough Studio, curators give daily talks and demonstrations.

These vary from day to day: you may see a bottle of spiders collected by Charles Darwin, handle fossils, or see live scorpions that glow under ultraviolet light.

Dr Caroline Smith, Curator of Meteorites, and Alan Hart, Head of Mineralogy, are a fascinating double act.

In their presentation, they show off two exhibits:

• A  460-carat diamond crystal which, at three billion years old, is one of the most ancient things you’re ever likely to see
• A 1.3 billion-year-old meteorite from Mars called Nakhla, which landed in Egypt in 1911

They ask the audience to vote for the most impressive object. Which would you choose?

All in all, the new Darwin Centre is well worth a visit – for the architecture, the exhibits, and the unique opportunity to interact with scientists working in this interesting field.

The Darwin Centre opens to the public on 15 September. Entrance is free.