Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Sir Henry Acland initiated the construction of the museum building to consolidate various science specimens and departments, with the project taking place between 1855 and 1860. The funding for the construction was raised through the sale of Bibles.

The museum officially opened to the public in 1860, although several university departments had already begun to occupy their designated premises within the building as early as 1858.

A pivotal meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science took place in the museum in June 1860, featuring a famous debate between Thomas Huxley and the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, regarding the theory of evolution.

A new building was constructed to the east of the main museum between 1885 and 1886 to house the ethnological collections donated by General Augustus Pitt Rivers.

On 14 August 1894, Professor Oliver Lodge conducted one of the first public demonstrations of wireless telegraphy in the museum's lecture theatre, receiving a Morse code signal sent from the nearby Clarendon Laboratory.

Since May 1947, the museum tower has served as a research site for one of the longest continuous studies of a single bird species, focusing on the colony of swifts that nest there.

On 12 January 1954, the museum complex, including the adjoining Pitt Rivers Museum, was designated a Grade I listed building for its significance as a detailed museum complex of the mid-19th century.

The museum began a major re-display project in 2018 titled 'Life, As We Know It', marking its first significant overhaul in over two decades, with a scheduled completion date in July 2026.