Hunterian Zoology Museum

The Hunterian Museum is the oldest museum in Scotland, dating back to 1807 when Dr. William Hunter left his collection to the university. While most of the collection was in one piece at first, it got split up over time. The zoology section has been its own museum for over 100 years, and not much has changed since. 

The museum is in the heart of the zoological department houses in the same building and is surrounded by busy offices and even more busy scientists. The museum itself is one large room with several exhibits and is used by students as a study hall. Because of its function and small size, it doesn’t operate as a full-scale museum and appears to be maintained rather than actively updated.

The result is a unique, hidden gem that is not only educational, but also feels like a time capsule: The museum itself is a display of how museums used to look before modernization transformed many of the museums we encounter today.