The main hall of the Natural History Museum soars less dramatically than a Gothic nave, but otherwise isn't unlike one. Light comes from high windows; there are upper galleries and chapel-like alcoves; and it is dominated by a statue in white marble of the local deity - Charles Darwin - who looks down at a huge dinosaur skeleton from the landing of the staircase that rises in a double flight at the north end. Darwin's ideas are so central to biology that there is no wall of fossils, case of stuffed birds, diagram of genetic inheritance, animated dinosaur, laboratory or educational scheme in the museum that does not draw on, elaborate, or take its meaning from them. The whole building is a Darwin exhibition. That presents problems when you want to do something special to celebrate his 200th birthday.

LRB 29 January 2009 | PDF Download