Lady’s Guide to the Horniman Museum in London

Today I want to bring you my guide to the Horniman Museum in London. Down in south London’s Forest Hill, this museum is home to an unusual collection of treasures. There are gardens with views, too.

Horniman Museum in London

London has some of the best museums in the world. From the British Museum’s plundered treasures to Tate Modern’s world-class contemporary art, there’s no shortage of galleries and exhibitions to explore.

After years of living in the UK, I’ve seen most of the best museums in London. But this week I ventured a bit outside the city center to see a museum that’s eluded me for ages: the Horniman Museum in London.

I first learned about the Horniman Museum when I was in Oman. I was discussing off-the-beaten-path places in London with a couple at my hotel who lived in the UK capital.

They said their favorite spot was a museum in Forest Hill. They told me it held odd antique treasures and had enough animal taxidermy to challenge the gaggle of dusty dead critters at the Natural History Museum.

They also said the Horniman Museum allegedly had a sordid past that included a curator who arranged the collection in a way that portrayed Western culture as superior to all others. I was intrigued.

How to Get to the Horniman Museum

Two years later, I finally got around to taking the train from London Bridge to Forest Hill, from where it was a few minutes’ walk up the hill to the museum. I couldn’t wait to see one of the best secret places in London.

Horniman Museum Opening Times

The museum itself is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday, and from 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays. The Horniman Museum Gardens are open daily from 7:15am (8am on Sundays and Bank Holidays) until sunset.

The weekly Horniman Market is open on Sundays from 10am to 3pm. It’s one of the best Sunday markets in London.

Horniman Museum Price

When I entered the museum, I was happy to discover most things are free. There’s only a Horniman entry price for the aquarium, Butterfly House, temporary exhibitions, and other special events.

The permanent collection, gardens and grounds, and other spaces are free to visit.

The Horniman Museum History

As I started exploring, I discovered the Horniman Museum was set in an eclectic mix of buildings that housed an equally eclectic mix of exhibits.

The main building was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Arts and Crafts Movement style.

It opened to the public in 1901 to display Frederick John Horniman’s 30,000-strong collection of objects relating to everything from anthropology to natural history and music.

The Horniman Museum Galleries

The first room I entered at the Horniman Museum contained the world’s largest walrus.

I say that because the taxidermist who stuffed it had never seen a walrus before. Instead of leaving its skin in folds, he stuffed it until every last inch was taut.

The gallery also contained taxidermy specimens of extinct animals, formaldehyde jars with pickled pregnant animals, and a lot of fossils. It was completely quirky and strange, a bit nauseating, and overall pleasantly bizarre.

Moving on from the Horniman Museum Natural History Gallery, I explored a small but impressive exhibition called Africa World, which was dedicated to—wait for it—Africa.

Brimming with masks, sculptures, and sacred objects, it reminded me a lot of the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.

From there I walked into the Music Gallery. Thousands of instruments were stuffed into a small space. Everything from drums to flutes and guitars was on display.

It resembled a scaled-down version of the excellent Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels.

Speaking of Brussels, the whole of the Horniman Museum reminded me of King Leopold’s politically incorrect Royal Museum for Central Africa.

The final room I visited was one called the Centenary Gallery. It was dedicated to the original collection and how it was viewed by different collectors over the years.

The space was full of intricate antiquities from around the world, including 20th-century Nigerian puppets and 17th-century Spanish torture chairs.

The Horniman Museum Gardens

After seeing so many diverse exhibitions, I left the Horniman Museum in London and ventured outside to explore the gardens.

From the Grasslands and Sunken Gardens to sprawling lawns and meadows, there was a lot of ground to cover. The area where the Sunday market takes place had a bandstand with great views of the London skyline, too.

Elsewhere in the Horniman Museum gardens there was a beautiful glass conservatory, a cafe with outdoor seating, and a kiosk selling food and drinks. Sadly, I didn’t have time to sit and have a coffee before I had to go.

The Horniman Museum in London

It’ll just have to wait until next time. And there will be a next time, as I plan to drag all my friends back to the Horniman Museum to see its vast collection of weird and wonderful treasures. And walruses.

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