Spring is the perfect time to unveil a new Nature Gallery, but if you can’t wait that long here’s a glimpse of what’s coming.

If you’ve been following our Transformation Project, you’ll be aware that one of the key areas we’re working on right now is the Nature Gallery. A hugely popular space in the museum especially for our younger visitors, we had three clear priorities in redesigning this space.

Firstly, the new Nature Gallery had to provide a spectacular window into Cornwall’s beautiful landscapes and natural riches, giving historical context and exploring what makes the region so unique. We were lucky enough to work with Cornwall Wildlife Trust, who lent us their expert help in designing the new Nature Gallery.

Secondly, we were determined to confront the ecological and climate crisis in the stories told here, encouraging visitors to reflect on the role of the individual and how even small changes can make a difference.

Finally, it was essential that the Nature Gallery continued to be interactive and loved by younger museumgoers. Children engage through sensory experiences and play, which provide accessible ways into big topics like sustainability and biodiversity. One highlight of the new Nature Gallery is sure to be the gorgeous headdresses specially created for us by Animalesque.

So, families can expect costumes, games, audio, and visual elements. Generations of local and visiting children have encountered Cornwall’s natural wonders in our Nature Gallery, but we believe that the next generation will be the most important yet.

Here are some of the themes we’re exploring alongside Cornwall Wildlife Trust in the creation of this new gallery dedicated to Cornish land and sea.

Cornwall is thought of as the ‘place where the land meets the sea’, and interaction with the ocean is an indelible part of Cornish identity.

In the Nature Gallery, we dive into a world of submerged forests, seagrass meadows, and ancient oyster beds, and follow the fortunes of species like basking sharks, blue fin tuna, and beavers. Listen to experts from Seals Research Trust explain why Cornwall’s population of grey and common seals are so important, and what we can do to protect them.

Meanwhile, pioneering botanists and naturalists were busy cataloguing native species. Collecting plants and mosses, insects and butterflies, they studied them under microscopes, taking notes and in some cases making beautiful drawings as records.

Cornwall’s status as a global maritime hub, combined with the mild climate, meant that many exotic plant species ended up in the gardens of grand houses here, where they were propagated and spread further afield.

The Cornish hedge played a vital role in providing a habitat for many of the species of flora and fauna identified by those early botanists. This network of accidental ‘wildlife corridors’ is explored in the new Nature Gallery, with our beautiful Cornish hedge installation offering a immersive, sensory experience.

Handcrafted out of oak, the bench is wonderfully tactile and just made for little hands and feet to explore, discovering audio stories along the way…

Cornwall is home to many iconic native birds and exotic migratory visitors. The Cornish Chough has become a symbol of Cornwall, even making it onto our crest.

The ‘rewilded’ Nature Gallery features birds wheeling overhead and alighting on the Trewinnard Coach, as our impressive collection of taxidermy – a lot of it from the Victorian era – is given a new lease of life.

For updates on progress and for the chance to be amongst the first to experience the new Nature Gallery, join the mailing list here.

This stage of the museum’s transformation has been made possible thanks to funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund delivered via Cornwall Council, Truro Town Deal & Arts Council England.