London is saying goodbye to a beloved, overcrowded walrus for the time being
South-east London has temporarily lost one of its most famous residents: a giant taxidermy walrus that has been on display for more than a century.
For most of the past 120 years, the walrus has sat in the middle of the Natural History Gallery of the Horniman Museum and Gardens. The museum displays the collection of Frederick Horniman, a wealthy tea merchant who lived in Victorian England.
The gallery, which houses other taxidermied animals, skeletons and insects in addition to the walrus, will close while the museum redevelops the space, with a focus on “ecological sustainability and a commitment to combating the climate crisis,” according to the museum’s website. . (The rest of the museum, which also houses a large collection of musical instruments and an aquarium, remains open.)
When the gallery reopens in 2026, visitors will be able to see the walrus in the same place they left it — prominently in the center of the room atop a fake iceberg, said Louis Buckley, a senior curator at the museum. The collection will include more context about how Mr. Horniman came to own the walrus. The museum’s website notes that Mr. Horniman’s wealth “was dependent on the exploitation of people living in the British Empire.”
“It is in many ways an expression of the British Empire and its relationship with the colonies and Canada in particular,” Mr Buckley said.
During his lifetime, Mr. Horniman amassed a collection of ethnographic objects, natural history specimens and musical instruments. When his collection became too large to fit in his house, he commissioned architects to build a museum, which opened in 1901.
In the renovated gallery, the walrus will “encapsulate a lot of different themes that we explore,” Buckley said. As well as a closer look at how Mr Horniman’s objects came to be in the museum, climate change and humans’ relationship to nature will also be explored.
The walrus is the unmistakable showstopper of the collection. It is the only item in the gallery that is not in a display case.
However, looking at it can make a visitor feel a little strange, as if something is not right.
“People describe it as a bit too big,” Mr Buckley said.
Living walruses have skin folds and wrinkles. Not the one in the museum, although the traces of where those skin folds would be are visible. The walrus, Mr. Buckley said, “is completely stuffed, a lot bigger than it would have been in life.”
Whoever originally stuffed the animal has probably never seen a walrus, Mr Buckley said. He added: “After all, they are difficult animals to observe up close.”
Mr. Horniman purchased the walrus at an exhibition in London around 1886. The walrus itself likely comes from the Hudson Bay area of Canada, Mr. Buckley said, although it is unknown who hunted and killed it.
The prevailing atmosphere in the museum on Sunday was one of enthusiasm and walrus appreciation. Against the sounds of squeaking – and sometimes crying – children on a rare sunny day in March, several visitors said they had made a pilgrimage that day specifically to say goodbye.
“We came to greet the walrus,” said Julia King, one of the visitors. It was her first time seeing the walrus in real life. “He’s great,” she said.
Mrs. King said she enjoyed looking at the absurd things in life, and the walrus lived up to her expectations.
“He’s clearly the star of south-east London,” said Sian Thomas, another visitor, who said she found the overstuffed animal important as a way of understanding how we see the world differently to people in Victorian times, and how our scientific understanding has changed. evolved.
As visitors walked past the walrus on Sunday, many of them took photos, explained the animal to their children and marveled at its size. The walrus’s total weight is unknown, but it will take at least five people to move it, Mr Buckley said.
“I didn’t expect it to be so big,” said Kasia Kaniuka, a Londoner who visited the museum with her boyfriend after hearing the gallery was closing. “It’s quite overwhelming.”
For Josh Alford, the gallery’s closure was also the main reason for visiting on Sunday. He came to see the walrus from East London. “I expected it to be about the size of a seal,” Mr Alford said. “That looks like a horse, to be honest.” (He quickly added that the animal looked “cute enough to cuddle.”)
Some said they were sad to see the walrus go away for a while, and many of them called it a family favorite. Others, who had no idea of the impending closure, were pleased with their coincidental timing.
“I’m devastated,” said Kara Tritton, who grew up in the area and still lives there. She said she remembers seeing the walrus for the first time as a child and the impression it made on her. Through the museum, she said she also felt connected to her great-grandparents, who were local residents and had most likely also visited the walrus.
“I absolutely had to come today,” she said. ‘I’ll miss him. Two years will be a long time.”