The Natural History Museum in London which opened its doors to the public just a year before Charles Darwin’s death has marked the bicentennial of the legendary naturalist’s birth by inaugurating a spectacular new wing. The Darwin Centre includes the ‘spirit collections’ of more than 20 million zoological specimens preserved in alcohol and an instantly iconic new structure, ‘the cocoon’, an eight storey-high egg of white concrete set in a glass box, housing the entomological and botanical collections. Other attractions include the interactive multimedia displays of the David Attenborough studio and an eight-metre-long giant squid popularly known as Archie — the latest member of the museum’s celebrity menagerie of leviathans, including the skeleton of a Diplodocus carnegii dinosaur (Dippy) and the skeleton and model of a blue whale. Entrance to the Darwin Centre is free but you can book tickets for specific time slots at the Cocoon online: www.nhmshop.co.uk.