Английская Википедия:Ceilings of the Natural History Museum, London

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Central Hall ceiling
Central Hall (now Hintze Hall) ceiling in 2013

A pair of decorated ceilings in the main Central Hall (officially Hintze Hall since 2014) and smaller North Hall of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, were unveiled at the building's opening in 1881. They were designed by the museum's architect Alfred Waterhouse and painted by the artist Charles James Lea. The ceiling of the Central Hall consists of 162 panels, 108 of which depict plants considered significant to the history of the museum, to the British Empire or the museum's visitors and the remainder are highly stylised decorative botanical paintings. The ceiling of the smaller North Hall consists of 36 panels, 18 of which depict plants growing in the British Isles. Painted directly onto the plaster of the ceilings, they also make use of gilding for visual effect.

The natural history collections had originally shared a building with their parent institution the British Museum, but with the expansion of the British Empire there was a significant increase in both public and commercial interest in natural history, and in the number of specimens added to the museum's natural history collections. In 1860 it was agreed that a separate museum of natural history would be created in a large building, capable of displaying the largest specimens, such as whales. The superintendent of the natural history departments, Richard Owen, envisaged that visitors would enter a large central hall containing what he termed an "index collection" of representative exhibits, from which other galleries would radiate, and a smaller hall to the north would display the natural history of the British Isles. Waterhouse's Romanesque design for the museum included decorative painted ceilings. Acton Smee Ayrton, the First Commissioner of Works, refused to permit the decoration of the ceilings on grounds of cost, but Waterhouse convinced him that provided the painting took place while the scaffolding from the museum's construction was still in place it would incur no extra cost; he further managed to convince Ayrton that the ceiling would be more appealing if elements of the paintings were gilded.

The ceiling of the Central Hall consists of six rows of painted panels, three on each side of the roof's apex. Above the landing at the southern end of the building, the ceiling is divided into nine-panel blocks. The uppermost three panels in each block consist of what Waterhouse termed "archaic" panels, depicting stylised plants on a green background. Each of the lower six panels in each block depicts a plant considered of particular significance to the British Empire, against a pale background. Above the remainder of the Central Hall the archaic panels remain in the same style, but each set of six lower panels depicts a single plant, spreading across the six panels and against the same pale background; these represent plants considered of particular significance either to visitors, or to the history of the museum. The ceiling of the smaller North Hall comprises just four rows of panels. The two uppermost rows are of a simple design of heraldic symbols of the then constituent countries of the United Kingdom; each panel in the lower two rows depicts a different plant found in Britain or Ireland, in keeping with the room's intended purpose as a display of British natural history.

As the ceilings were built cheaply, they are extremely fragile and require regular repair. They underwent significant conservation work in 1924, 1975 and 2016. The restoration in 2016 coincided with the removal of "Dippy", a cast of a Diplodocus skeleton which had previously stood in the Central Hall, and the installation of the skeleton of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling.

Background

Hans Sloane
Hans Sloane

Irish physician Hans Sloane was born in 1660, and since childhood had a fascination with natural history.Шаблон:Sfn In 1687 Sloane was appointed personal doctor to Christopher Monck, the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica,Шаблон:Sfn and lived on that island until Monck died in October 1688.Шаблон:Sfn During his free time in Jamaica Sloane indulged his passion for biology and botany, and on his return to London brought with him a collection of plants, animal and mineral specimens and numerous drawings and notes regarding the local wildlife, which eventually became the basis for his major work A Voyage to the Islands Шаблон:Not a typo, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica (1707–1725).Шаблон:Sfn He became one of England's leading doctors, credited with the invention of chocolate milk and with the popularisation of quinine as a medicine,Шаблон:Efn-ua and in 1727 King George II appointed him Physician in Ordinary (doctor to the Royal Household).Шаблон:Sfn

Building on the collection he had brought from Jamaica, Sloane continued to collect throughout his life, using his new-found wealth to buy items from other collectors and to buy out the collections of existing museums.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua During Sloane's life there were few public museums in England, and by 1710 Sloane's collection filled 11 large rooms, which he allowed the public to visit.Шаблон:Sfn Following his death on 11 January 1753, Sloane stipulated that his collection—by this time filling two large housesШаблон:Sfn—was to be kept together for the public benefit if at all possible.Шаблон:Sfn The collection was initially offered to King George II, who was reluctant to meet the £20,000 (about £Шаблон:Inflation in 2024 termsШаблон:Inflation-fn) purchase cost stipulated in Sloane's will.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua Parliament ultimately agreed to establish a national lottery to fund the purchase of Sloane's collection and the Harleian Library which was also currently for sale, and to unite them with the Cotton library, which had been bequeathed to the nation in 1702, to create a national collection.Шаблон:Sfn On 7 June 1753 the British Museum Act 1753 was passed, authorising the unification of the three collections as the British Museum and establishing the national lottery to fund the purchase of the collections and to provide funds for their maintenance.Шаблон:Sfn

Montagu House
Montagu House at the time of its transfer to the newly created British Museum

The trustees settled on Montagu House in Bloomsbury as a home for the new British Museum, opening it to the public for the first time on 15 January 1759.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua With the British Museum now established numerous other collectors began to donate and bequeath items to the museum's collections,Шаблон:Sfn which were further swelled by large quantities of exhibits brought to England in 1771 by the first voyage of James Cook,Шаблон:Sfn by a large collection of Egyptian antiquities (including the Rosetta Stone) ceded by the French in the Capitulation of Alexandria,Шаблон:Sfn by the 1816 purchase of the Elgin Marbles by the British government who in turn passed them to the museum,Шаблон:Sfn and by the 1820 bequest of the vast botanical collections of Joseph Banks.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua Other collectors continued to sell, donate or bequeath their collections to the museum, and by 1807 it was clear that Montagu House was unable to accommodate the museum's holdings. In 1808–09, in an effort to save space, the newly appointed keeper of the natural history department George Shaw felt obliged to destroy large numbers of the museum's specimens in a series of bonfires in the museum's gardens.Шаблон:Sfn The 1821 bequest of the library of 60,000 books assembled by George III forced the trustees to address the issue, as the bequest was on condition that the collection be displayed in a single room, and Montagu House had no such room available.Шаблон:Sfn In 1823 Robert Smirke was hired to design a replacement building, the first parts of which opened in 1827 and which was completed in the 1840s.Шаблон:Sfn

Plans for a Natural History building

Richard Owen
Richard Owen, 1878

With more space for displays and able to accommodate large numbers of visitors, the new British Museum proved a success with the public, and the natural history department proved particularly popular.Шаблон:Sfn Although the museum's management had traditionally been dominated by classicists and antiquarians,Шаблон:Sfn in 1856 the natural history department was split into separate departments of botany, zoology, mineralogy and geology, each with their own keeper and with botanist and palaeontologist Richard Owen as superintendent of the four departments.Шаблон:Sfn By this time the expansion of the British Empire had led to an increased appreciation of the importance of natural history on the part of the authorities, as territorial expansion had given British companies access to unfamiliar species, the commercial possibilities of which needed to be investigated.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua

By the time of Owen's appointment, the collections of the natural history departments had increased tenfold in size in the preceding 20 years, and the museum was again suffering from a chronic lack of space.Шаблон:Sfn There had also long been criticism that because of the varied nature of its displays the museum was confusing and lacked coherence; as early as 1824 Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary, had commented that "what with marbles, statues, butterflies, manuscripts, books and pictures, I think the museum is a farrago that distracts attention".Шаблон:Sfn Owen proposed that the museum be split into separate buildings, with one building to house the works of Man (art, antiquities, books and manuscripts) and one to house the works of God (the natural history departments);Шаблон:Sfn he argued that the expansion of the British Empire had led to an increased ability to procure specimens, and that increased space to store and display these specimens would both aid scholarship, and enhance Britain's prestige.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Blockquote

In 1858 a group of 120 leading scientists wrote to Benjamin Disraeli, at the time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, complaining about the inadequacy of the existing building for displaying and storing the natural history collections.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua In January 1860, the trustees of the museum approved Owen's proposal.Шаблон:Sfn (Only nine of the British Museum's fifty trustees supported Owen's scheme, but 33 trustees failed to turn up to the meeting. As a consequence, Owen's plan passed by nine votes to eight.Шаблон:Sfn) Owen envisaged a huge new building of Шаблон:Convert for the natural history collections, capable of exhibiting the largest specimens.Шаблон:Sfn Owen felt that exhibiting large animals would attract visitors to the new museum; in particular, he hoped to collect and display whole specimens of large whales while he still had the opportunity, as he felt that the larger species of whale were on the verge of extinction.Шаблон:Sfn (It was reported that when the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction asked Owen how much space would be needed, he replied "I shall want space for seventy whales, to begin with".[1]) In October 1861 Owen gave William Ewart Gladstone, the newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, a tour of the cramped natural history departments of the British Museum, to demonstrate how overcrowded and poorly lit the museum's galleries and storerooms were, and to impress on him the need for a much larger building.Шаблон:Sfn

Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse, 1878

After much debate over a potential site, in 1864 the site formerly occupied by the 1862 International Exhibition in South Kensington was chosen. Francis Fowke, who had designed the buildings for the International Exhibition, was commissioned to build Owen's museum.Шаблон:Sfn In December 1865 Fowke died, and the Office of Works commissioned little-known architect Alfred Waterhouse, who had never previously worked on a building of this scale,Шаблон:Sfn to complete Fowke's design. Dissatisfied with Fowke's scheme, in 1868 Waterhouse submitted his own revised design, which was endorsed by the trustees.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua

Owen, who considered animals more important than plants, was unhappy with the museum containing botanical specimens at all, and during the negotiations that led to the new building supported transferring the botanical collections to the new Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew to amalgamate the national collections of living and preserved plants.Шаблон:Sfn However, he decided that it would diminish the significance of his new museum were it not to cover the whole of nature,Шаблон:Sfn and when the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction was convened in 1870 to review the national policy on scientific education Owen successfully lobbied for the museum to retain its botanical collections.Шаблон:Sfn In 1873 construction finally began on the new museum building.Шаблон:Sfn

Waterhouse's building

Natural History Museum exterior
Painting by Waterhouse of the final design for the building, 1876. The arch between the central towers is the entrance to the Central Hall. The side facade at the extreme right of the painting, fronting onto what is now Exhibition Road, was never built.Шаблон:Sfn

Waterhouse's design was a Romanesque scheme,Шаблон:Sfn loosely based on German religious architecture;Шаблон:Sfn Owen was a leading creationist, and felt that the museum served a religious purpose in displaying the works of God.Шаблон:Sfn The design was centred around a very large rectangular central hall and a smaller hall to the north.Шаблон:Sfn Visitors would enter from the street into the Central Hall,Шаблон:Sfn which would hold what Owen termed an "index collection" of typical specimens, intended to serve as an introduction to the museum's collections for those unfamiliar with natural history.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Extended galleries were to radiate to the east and west from this central hall to form the south face of the museum, with further galleries to the east, west and north to be added when funds allowed to complete a rectangular shape.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua

Uniquely for the time, Waterhouse's building was faced inside and out with terracotta, the first building in England to be so designed;Шаблон:Sfn although expensive to build, this was resistant to the acid rain of heavily polluted London, allowed the building to be washed clean,Шаблон:Efn-ua and also allowed it to be decorated with intricate mouldings and sculptures.Шаблон:Sfn A smaller North Hall, immediately north of the Central Hall, would be used for exhibits specifically relating to British natural history.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua On 18 April 1881 the new British Museum (Natural History) opened to the public.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn As relocating exhibits from Bloomsbury was a difficult and time-consuming process, much of the building remained empty at the time the museum opened.Шаблон:Sfn

Central Hall

Central Hall
Being above the skylights meant that the ceiling was dimly lit. As it could be viewed from both the distant floor and the much higher balconies, the design needed to be aesthetically pleasing at both long and short distances.

As well as being large, the Central Hall was to be very high, rising the full Шаблон:Convert height of the building to a plaster-lined mansard roof,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn with skylights running the length of the hall at the junction between the roof and the wall.Шаблон:Sfn A grand staircase at the northern end of the hall, flanked by archways leading to the smaller North Hall,Шаблон:Sfn led to balconies running almost the full length of the hall to a staircase which in turn led to a large landing above the main entrance, such that a visitor entering the hall would walk the full length of the floor of the hall to reach the first staircase, and then the full length of the balcony to reach the second.Шаблон:Sfn As a consequence, it posed a difficulty to Waterhouse's plans to decorate the building. As the skylights were lower than the ceiling the roof was in relative darkness compared to the rest of the room,Шаблон:Sfn and owing to the routes to be taken by visitors, the design needed to be attractive when viewed both from the floor below, and from the raised balconies to the each side.Шаблон:Sfn To address this, Waterhouse decided to decorate the Шаблон:ConvertШаблон:Sfn ceiling with painted botanical panels.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Blockquote

Balcony
One of the identical twin balconies running the length of Central Hall, connecting the first and second staircases

Acton Smee Ayrton, the First Commissioner of Works, was hostile to the museum project, and sought to cut costs wherever possible;Шаблон:Sfn he disliked art, and felt that it was his responsibility to restrain the excesses of artists and architects.Шаблон:Sfn Having already insisted that Waterhouse's original design for wooden ceilings and a lead roof be replaced with cheaper plaster and slate,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Ayrton vetoed Waterhouse's plan to decorate the ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn Waterhouse eventually persuaded Ayrton that provided the ceiling were decorated while the scaffolding from its construction remained in place, a decorated ceiling would be no more expensive than a plain white one. He prepared two sample paintings of the pomegranate and magnolia for Ayrton, who approved £1435 (about £Шаблон:Inflation in 2024 termsШаблон:Inflation-fn) to decorate the ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn Having obtained approval for the paintings, Waterhouse managed to convince Ayrton that the paintings' appeal would be enhanced if certain elements were gilded.Шаблон:Sfn

Records do not survive of how the plants to be represented were chosen and who created the initial designs.Шаблон:Sfn Knapp & Press (2005) believe that it was almost certainly Waterhouse himself, likely working from specimens in the museum's botanical collections,Шаблон:Sfn while William T. Stearn, writing in 1980, believes that the illustrations were chosen by botanist William Carruthers, who at the time was the museum's Keeper of Botany.Шаблон:Sfn To create the painted panels from the initial cartoons, Waterhouse commissioned Manchester artist Charles James Lea of Best & Lea, with whom he had already worked on Pilmore Hall in Hurworth-on-Tees.Шаблон:Sfn Waterhouse provided Lea with a selection of botanical drawings, and requested that Lea "select and prepare drawings of fruits and flowers most suitable and gild same in the upper panels of the roof";Шаблон:Sfn it is not recorded who drew the cartoons for the paintings, or how the species were chosen.Шаблон:Sfn Best & Lea agreed a fee of £1975 (about £Шаблон:Inflation in 2024 termsШаблон:Inflation-fn) for the work.Шаблон:Sfn How the panels were painted is not recorded, but it is likely Lea painted directly onto the ceiling from the scaffolding.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Main ceiling

Central hall ceiling and girders
Three long rows of panels on each side rise from the skylights to meet at the roof's apex. The supporting girders are themselves decorated with gilded leaves.

Waterhouse and Lea's design for the ceiling is based on a theme of growth and power. From the skylights on each side, three rows of panels run the length of the main hall, with the third, uppermost rows on each side meeting at the apex of the roof.Шаблон:Sfn The two lower rows are divided into blocks of six panels apiece, each block depicting a different plant species.Шаблон:Sfn Plants spread their branches upwards towards the apex, representing the theme of growth.Шаблон:Sfn The supporting girders of the ceiling are spaced at every third column of panels, dividing the panels into square blocks of nine;Шаблон:Sfn the girders are an integral part of the design, designed to be barely visible from the ground but highly visible from the upper galleries, representing industry working with nature.Шаблон:Sfn

Painting of Banksia speciosa
The six panels depicting Banksia speciosa

The girders themselves are based on 12th-century German architecture. Each comprises a round arch, braced with repeating triangles to create a zig-zag pattern. Within each upward-facing triangle is a highly stylised gilded leaf; the six different leaf designs repeat across the length of the hall.Шаблон:Sfn Running perpendicular to the girders—i.e., along the length of the hall—are seven iron support beams. The topmost of these forms the apex of the roof, and the next beam down on each side, separating the topmost from the middle row of panels, is painted with a geometric design of cream and green rectangles.Шаблон:Sfn The next beam down on each side, separating the middle from the lowest row of panels, is decorated in the same shades of cream and green, but this time with a design of green triangles pointing upwards.Шаблон:Sfn The lowest of the beams, separating the panels from the skylights, is painted deep burgundy and is labelled with the scientific name of the plant depicted in the panels above; the names are flanked with a motif of gilt dots and highly stylised roses.Шаблон:Sfn At Owen's request, the plants were labelled with their binomial names rather than their English names, as he felt this would serve an educational purpose to visitors.Шаблон:Sfn

Other than on the outermost edges of the panels at the two ends of the hall,Шаблон:Sfn each set of nine panels is flanked alongside the girders by an almost abstract design of leaves; these decorations continue along the space between the skylights and the girders to reach the terracotta walls below, providing a visible connection between the walls and the ceiling designs.Шаблон:Sfn

Between the main entrance and the landing of the main staircase,Шаблон:Sfn the lower two rows of panels all have a pale cream background, intended to draw the viewer's attention to the plant being illustrated; each plant chosen was considered significant either to visitors, or to the museum itself.Шаблон:Sfn Each block of three columns depicts a different species, but all have a broadly similar design.Шаблон:Sfn The central column in the lowest row depicts the trunk or stalk of the plant in question, while the panels on either side and the three panels of the row above depict the branches of the plant spreading from the lower central panel.Шаблон:Sfn The design was intended to draw the viewer's eye upwards, and to give the impression that the plants are growing.Шаблон:Sfn

Central Hall ceiling
Layout of the skylights and panels

Archaic panels

Шаблон:Multiple image Above the six-panel sets and adjacent to the apex of the roof lie the top rows of panels. These panels, called the "archaic" panels by Waterhouse, are of a radically different design to those below. Each panel is surrounded by gilded strips and set against a dark green background, rather than the pale cream of the six-panel sets; the archaic panels also continue beyond the six panel sets and over the landing of the main staircase, to run the full length of the Central Hall.Шаблон:Sfn

The archaic panels depict flattened, stylised plants in pale colours with gilt highlighting, sometimes accompanied by birds, butterflies and insects.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Unlike the six-panel sets the archaic panels are not labelled, and while some plants on the archaic panels are recognisable others are stylised beyond recognition.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

No records survive of how Waterhouse and Lea selected the designs for the archaic panels,Шаблон:Sfn or on from which images they were derived.Шаблон:Sfn Owing to the flattened nature of the designs, it is possible that they were based on pressed flowers in the museum's herbarium, or on illustrations in the British Museum's collection of books on botany.Шаблон:Sfn Some of the archaic panels appear to be simplified versions of the illustrations in Nathaniel Wallich's book Plantae Asiaticae Rariores.Шаблон:Sfn

Balconies

Шаблон:Multiple image The ceiling of the balconies flanking the Central Hall are also decorated, albeit to a far more simple design. The ceilings are painted with a stencilled motif of square panels, each containing a small illustration of a different plant or animal. All the birds and insects from the archaic panels are included; the panels also feature cacti, cockatoos, crabs, daisies, fish, hawks, lizards, octopuses, pinecones, pomegranates, snails and snakes.Шаблон:Sfn The ceilings of the lobbies at the northern end of each balcony—originally the entrances to the museum's refreshment room—are each decorated with a single large panel of stencilled birds, insects, butterflies and paterae.Шаблон:Sfn

South landing

Шаблон:Multiple image Unlike the cavernous, intentionally cathedral-like feel of the main space of the Central Hall,Шаблон:Sfn the ceiling of the landing above the main entrance, connecting the balconies to the upper level, has a different design.Шаблон:Sfn Instead of the exposed and decorated iron girders of the main space, the structural girders of this end of the building are faced in the same terracotta style as the building's walls.Шаблон:Sfn As the structure of the landing and staircases meant that the ceiling at this end of the room was not clearly visible from the ground floor, there was less of a need to make the designs appear attractive from far below; instead, the design of this stretch of the ceiling was intended to be viewed from a relatively close distance.Шаблон:Sfn

As with the rest of the Hall, the ceiling is still divided into blocks of nine panels.Шаблон:Sfn The archaic panels still run the full length, providing a thematic and visual connection with the rest of the ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn The six lower panels of each set do not depict a single plant spreading across each set of panels; instead, each of the 36 panels in the lower two rows depicts a different plant.Шаблон:Sfn These each represent a plant considered of particular significance to the British Empire.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

North Hall

Archways flanking the northern staircase to the balcony level lead to the North Hall, intended by Owen for a display of the natural history of the United Kingdom.Шаблон:Sfn Waterhouse designed a ceiling for the North Hall representing this theme.Шаблон:Sfn As with the Central Hall, this ceiling comprises rows of panels above a long skylight along each side of the room; there are two rows per side rather than three, and nine panels on each row.Шаблон:Sfn Unlike the archaic panels in the top row of the Central Hall, the upper rows on each side consist of plain green panels, each containing a heraldic rose, thistle or shamrock in representation of England, Scotland and Ireland, the three nations then constituting the constituent parts of the United Kingdom.Шаблон:Sfn (Wales was not represented, as in this period it was considered a part of England.Шаблон:Sfn)

North Hall ceiling
The ceiling of the smaller North Hall depicts native British plants against a green background.

In keeping with Owen's intent that the room be used for a display on the topic of the British Isles,Шаблон:Sfn the nine lower panels on each side each illustrate a different plant found in Britain or Ireland.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua The plants depicted were chosen to illustrate the variety of plant habitats in the British Isles.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua Uniquely in the building, the ceiling panels of the North Hall make use of silver leaf as well as gilt.Шаблон:Sfn (During conservation work in 2016 it was found that initially some panels in the Central Hall had also made use of silver leaf, but the silver sections had subsequently been overpainted with ochre.[2]) The style of illustration is similar to that of those over the south landing,Шаблон:Sfn but instead of the pale backgrounds of the main ceiling and the panels above the landing, the illustrations in the North Hall are set against a dark green background; Waterhouse's intent was that the darker colour scheme would create an intimate feel by making the ceiling appear lower.Шаблон:Sfn

One of the last parts of the initial museum to be completed, the display of British natural history in the North Hall was somewhat arbitrary, and did not reflect Owen's original intentions.Шаблон:Sfn Stuffed native animals such as birds and rats were exhibited, alongside prize-winning racehorses, common domesticated animals such as cows and ducks, and an exhibit on commonly grown crops and garden vegetables and on the control of insects.Шаблон:Sfn The display was unsuccessful, and was later removed,Шаблон:Efn-ua with the North Hall used as a space for temporary exhibitions before eventually becoming the museum's cafeteria.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua

After completion

Шаблон:Blockquote

Terracotta monkey
A terracotta monkey on a supporting column in the Central Hall

Although the terracotta decorations of the museum do contain some botanical motifs, most of the decor of the building with the exception of the ceiling depicts animals,Шаблон:Sfn with extinct species depicted on the east wing and extant species on the west.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua A statue of Adam originally stood between the two wings over the main entrance, celebrating humanity as the peak of creation, but was dislodged during the Second World War and not replaced.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua Much was written at the time of the museum's opening about the terracotta decorations of the museum, but very little was written about how the ceiling was received.Шаблон:Sfn Knapp & Press (2005) speculate that the apparent lack of public interest in the design of the ceiling could be owing to the prevalence of William Morris's ornate floral wallpaper and fabric designs rendering the decorations of the ceiling less unusual to Victorian audiences than might be expected.Шаблон:Sfn

Deterioration, restoration and conservation

During the construction of the building Waterhouse had been under intense pressure from the trustees to cut costs, and consequently was forced to abandon his proposed wooden ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn Instead, beneath a slate roof, the ceilings were constructed of lath and plaster. The ribs that frame the panels were reinforced with animal hair, but the panels themselves were not reinforced.Шаблон:Sfn As a consequence, the ceiling panels are unusually susceptible to vibration and to expansion and contraction caused by temperature variations.Шаблон:Sfn

The elaborate nature of the building's design means that its roof slopes at multiple angles, with numerous gutters and gullies, all of which are easily blocked by leaves and wind-blown detritus.Шаблон:Sfn As such, during periods of heavy rainfall water often penetrates the slate roof and reaches the fragile plaster ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn In 1924 and 1975, the museum has been obliged to repair and restore the ceilings owing to water damage.Шаблон:Sfn The height of the Central Hall ceiling made this a complicated and expensive process, requiring floor-to-ceiling scaffolding across the length and width of the Central Hall.Шаблон:Sfn The need to avoid damage to the fragile mosaic flooring and the terracotta tiling on the walls caused further difficulty in erecting the scaffolding.Шаблон:Sfn The exact nature and the cost of the repairs conducted in 1924 and 1975 is unknown, as is the identity of the restorers, as the relevant records have been lost, although it is known that cracks in the ceiling were filled with plaster and the paintwork and gilding retouched;Шаблон:Sfn it is possible that some of the panels were replaced entirely.Шаблон:Sfn

During the Second World War, South Kensington was heavily bombed. The north, east, south and west of the building sustained direct bomb hits; the east wing in particular suffered severe damage and its upper floor was left a burned-out shell. The bombs missed the centre of the museum, leaving the fragile ceilings of the Central and North Halls undamaged.Шаблон:Sfn

Whale skeleton hanging from ceiling
In 2017 a blue whale skeleton was suspended from the ceiling of the recently renamed Hintze Hall, replacing the "Dippy" Diplodocus cast which had stood there for many years.[3]

Since the 1975 restoration the ceiling once more began to deteriorate, individual sections of plaster becoming unkeyed (detached from their underlying laths),Шаблон:Sfn paintwork peeling from some panels,Шаблон:Sfn and the delicate plasterwork cracking.Шаблон:Sfn The ends of the Central Hall suffered the worst deterioration, with some cracks above the landing and the northern end of the hall becoming large enough to be visible to the naked eye, while the gilding in the North Hall became gradually tarnished.Шаблон:Sfn

In 2001 a systematic programme for the conservation of the ceilings was instituted.Шаблон:Sfn A specialised hoist is regularly used to allow a surveyor to take high resolution photographs of each panel from a close distance, and the images of each panel used to create a time series for each panel.Шаблон:Sfn This permits staff to monitor the condition of each panel for deterioration.Шаблон:Sfn

In 2014, following a £5,000,000 donation from businessman Michael Hintze, Central Hall was formally renamed Hintze Hall.[4] In 2016, in conjunction with works to replace the "Dippy" cast of a Diplodocus skeleton which had previously been the Central Hall's centrepiece with the skeleton of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling, further conservation work took place. The cracks in the plasterwork were filled, and flaked or peeling paintwork was repaired with Japanese tissue.[2]

Layout of the ceiling panels

Central Hall panels

Tobacco plant
Nicotiana tabacum as pictured on the ceiling

The panels are arranged in blocks of nine. The two central, uppermost rows (55–108) constitute the archaic panels. Of the outer two rows, in the six blocks at the southern end of the hall above the landing and the main entrance (1–18 and 109–126) each panel depicts a different plant considered of particular significance to the British Empire,Шаблон:Sfn while the twelve six-panel blocks above the main hall (19–54 and 127–162) each depict a single plant considered of particular importance to visitors or to the history of the museum, spreading across six panels.Шаблон:Sfn

Файл:Natural History Museum, London, Central Hall ceiling layout.png
1 Garcinia hanburyi, a variety of gamboge tree (misspelled on the ceiling as Garcinia hanburyii).Шаблон:Sfn Gamboge trees were the traditional source of gamboge, the dark yellow pigment of the clothing worn by Buddhist monks.[5]
2 Pyrus indica (now Docynia indica), the Indian pear.Шаблон:Sfn Native to South and Southeast Asia, the fruit is used to produce juice, wine and related products.[6]
3 Cornus capitata, the evergreen dogwood, was a popular ornamental plant.Шаблон:Sfn
4 Coffea arabica, the Arabian coffee plant,Шаблон:Sfn was the main cultivar of coffee. Coffee had been one of Britain's most popular drinks since being introduced to Britain from the Middle East by Venetian traders in the early 17th century.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua At the time the museum was built the coffee trade was dominated by the Dutch East Indies, but British colonists were planting huge coffee plantations in British East Africa (now Kenya).Шаблон:Sfn
5 Nicotiana tabacum, the tobacco plant.Шаблон:Sfn Tobacco from Nicotiana rustica (Aztec tobacco) had been introduced to England from the failed Roanoke Colony, the first British attempt at permanent settlement in North America, but the taste proved unpopular in European markets.Шаблон:Sfn In an effort to make the Colony of Virginia economically self-sufficient, settler John Rolfe began to plant seeds of the milder and better-tasting Nicotiana tabacum imported from Spanish colonies to the south.Шаблон:Sfn The climate and soil of Virginia proved ideal for the cultivation of tobacco, which soon became the principal export of the colony.Шаблон:Sfn The economic benefits of tobacco farming led to the colony prospering and to British expansion along the coast of North America, while the labour-intensive processes involved in tobacco production led to Britain entering the Atlantic slave trade.Шаблон:Sfn
6 Gossypium barbadense, extra-long staple cotton (also known as sea cotton).Шаблон:Sfn Cotton imported from the Mediterranean had been in limited use in Britain since the 16th century, but expansion in India led to muslin and calico—both made from Gossypium arboreum (tree cotton)—being imported to Britain in large quantities.Шаблон:Sfn Cotton-based fabrics were highly prized in Africa; as a consequence, Indian-made fabrics were traded by the British to African rulers in exchange for slaves, who in turn were shipped to North America to work in the tobacco industry.Шаблон:Sfn In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as the Industrial Revolution began, raw cotton began to be shipped to Britain to be woven into fabrics in the newly built cotton mills.Шаблон:Sfn To supply these mills, Gossypium barbadense was planted across the southern states of the newly independent United States, largely staffed with cheap slave labour; as it had longer fibres than the tree cotton of India, it was more suitable for weaving in the new industrial mills.Шаблон:Sfn The plant was fundamental to both the British and the American economies; at the time the museum opened cotton accounted for more than half the value of exports from the US to Britain,Шаблон:Sfn and approximately one in 10 jobs in Britain were connected to the cotton industry.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua
7 Prunus amygdalus, the almond,Шаблон:Sfn was religiously significant in Christianity, being described in the Bible as among "the best fruits in the land".[7]
8 Myroxylon pereira (now Myroxylon balsamum), was the source of Balsam of Peru.Шаблон:Sfn Balsam of Peru was a significant ingredient in perfumes and was also a commonly used food flavouring and traditional medication.
9 Butea frondosa, flame-of-the-forest or dhaak,Шаблон:Sfn an Indian plant whose sap was an important source of tannin.Шаблон:Sfn
10 Quercus tinctoria, the black oak (now called Quercus velutina),Шаблон:Sfn is a North American species that was endemic in most of the former British American colonies.Шаблон:Sfn It was valuable as a source of timber,Шаблон:Sfn and also as the source of quercitron.Шаблон:Sfn Before the invention of synthetic pigments in the 19th century quercitron was one of the most commonly used dyes in Europe, and was primarily imported through Glasgow.Шаблон:Sfn
11 Magnolia auriculata, the big-leaf magnolia (now called Magnolia fraseri),Шаблон:Sfn was native to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Appalachians. Imported to Europe in large quantities, it became a hugely popular ornamental plant.Шаблон:Sfn This design was one of the two sample images that persuaded Acton Smee Ayrton to authorise the decoration of the ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn
12 Citrus bergamia, the bergamot orange.Шаблон:Sfn Bergamot is commonly used in perfume,Шаблон:Sfn and also gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive flavour and scent.[8]
13 Aesculus hippocastanum, the horse chestnut,Шаблон:Sfn was native to the Balkans but had been cultivated throughout Europe. A popular ornamental plant, its hard seeds (known as conkers) were thought to be of medicinal benefit to horses.[9]
14 Strychnos nux-vomica, the strychnine tree, is native to India.Шаблон:Sfn In 19th-century Britain strychnine, produced from the tree's fruit, was one of the most commonly used poisons, and of high commercial significance as a rodenticide.Шаблон:Sfn
15 Melanorrhœa usitata, Burmese lacquer (now known as Gluta usitata), was traditionally used as a source of varnish in Burma.Шаблон:Sfn As an Asian plant that would grow in the British climate, it was a popular ornamental plant in the 19th century.Шаблон:Sfn
16 Rhododendron formosum, a subspecies of Rhododendron maddenii,Шаблон:Sfn represents the many species of rhododendron.Шаблон:Sfn Rhododendrons were widely found in Nepal and the Himalayan foothills, a region with a similar climate to the British Isles, and as a consequence these plants flourished in the cool damp British climate.Шаблон:Sfn Rhododendrons and the closely related azaleas became hugely popular as ornamental plants in the 19th century, and a mainstay of 19th-century gardening.Шаблон:Sfn Several rhododendron and azalea cultivars have subsequently spread throughout Britain and other territories previously controlled or influenced by Britain.Шаблон:Sfn
17 Saccharum officinarum, the most common species of sugarcane, at the time the primary source of sugar.Шаблон:Sfn Although historically sugar was rarely used in Britain, it became hugely popular in the 18th century; in 1750 sugar constituted around one fifth of all European imports, and the overwhelming majority of these imports came from British and French slave plantations in the Caribbean.Шаблон:Sfn In the 19th century the popularity of sugar continued to rise; over the fifty years from 1800 to 1850 the per capita British consumption of sugar doubled.Шаблон:Sfn
18 Prunus domestica, the most common species of plum tree.Шаблон:Sfn Believed to be one of the first fruit trees to be domesticated,[10] plums—particularly the Damson—were an important component of English cuisine.
19–24 Banksia speciosa, the showy banksia,Шаблон:Sfn was an Australian plant that was rarely grown in Britain, and was unlikely to be familiar to British audiences. It is probable that it was included as a tribute to Joseph Banks, naturalist on HMS Endeavour,Шаблон:Sfn after whom the genus was named,Шаблон:Sfn and whose 1820 bequest of his collections formed much of the core of the British Museum's botanical displays.Шаблон:Sfn Although named for Banks, Banksia speciosa was not one of the species collected by him on the Endeavour voyage, but was first described by Robert Brown.Шаблон:Sfn
25–30 Amygdalus persica, the peach tree.Шаблон:Sfn Although peaches do not grow well in Britain, they were nonetheless a popular fruit at the time.Шаблон:Sfn At the time the museum was built, peach trees were grown extensively in Britain in hothouses and against south-facing walls which were warmed by the sun, and peaches were considered a luxury item.Шаблон:Sfn
31–36 Theobroma cacao, the cacao tree,Шаблон:Sfn did not grow in Britain, but chocolate was highly popular in Britain at the time. It is possible that it was included as a tribute to Hans Sloane.Шаблон:Sfn
37–42 Quercus robur, the English oak,Шаблон:Sfn was considered a national symbol of England.Шаблон:Sfn Oaks were long-lived, hardy and strong, all qualities the English associated with themselves; they were also a key element in English culture, having been used as a building material in much of England's most celebrated architecture, and as the traditional English building material for warships.Шаблон:Sfn
43–48 Vitis vinefera, the grape vine.Шаблон:Sfn Although not native to Britain, visitors would have been familiar with grapes from the manufacture of wine, at the time considered a luxury.Шаблон:Sfn
49–54 Citrus aurantium, the Seville orange,Шаблон:Sfn did not generally grow in Britain, but was a staple of British culture as a key ingredient in marmalade and perfume.Шаблон:Sfn
55 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Butea frondosa (dhaak or flame-of-the-forest)Шаблон:Sfn
56 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Arisaema (cobra lily)Шаблон:Sfn
57 Archaic panel depicting a stylised DilleniaШаблон:Sfn
58 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Piper (pepper), possibly Piper ribesioidesШаблон:Sfn
59 Archaic panel depicting a stylised CurcumaШаблон:Sfn
60 Archaic panel depicting a stylised orchidШаблон:Sfn
61 Archaic panel depicting a stylised AloeШаблон:Sfn
62 Archaic panel depicting a stylised orchidШаблон:Sfn
63 Archaic panel depicting a stylised orange treeШаблон:Sfn
64 Archaic panel depicting a stylised orchidШаблон:Sfn
65 Archaic panel depicting a stylised OtteliaШаблон:Sfn
66 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Blighia sapida (ackee)Шаблон:Sfn
67 Archaic panel depicting a stylised dahliaШаблон:Sfn
68 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Quassia amara (Surinam quassia-wood)Шаблон:Sfn
69 Archaic panel depicting a stylised roseШаблон:Sfn
70 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Phytelephas (ivory palm)Шаблон:Sfn
71 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree)Шаблон:Sfn
72 Archaic panel depicting an unidentifiable stylised plantШаблон:Sfn
73 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Aesculus hippocastanum (horse chestnut)Шаблон:Sfn
74 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Markhamia stipulataШаблон:Sfn
75 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Bletilla (urn orchid)Шаблон:Sfn
76 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Papaver somniferum (opium poppy)Шаблон:Sfn
77 Archaic panel depicting a stylised MatoniaШаблон:Sfn
78 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Momordica charantia (bitter melon or bitter apple)Шаблон:Sfn
79 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Psidium guajava (common guava)Шаблон:Sfn
80 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Helianthus annuus (common sunflower)Шаблон:Sfn
81 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Punica granatum (pomegranate)Шаблон:Sfn
82 Archaic panel depicting a stylised orchidШаблон:Sfn
83 Archaic panel depicting a stylised PothosШаблон:Sfn
84 Archaic panel depicting a stylised GladiolusШаблон:Sfn
85 Archaic panel depicting a stylised helleboreШаблон:Sfn
86 Archaic panel depicting a stylised TradescantiaШаблон:Sfn
87 Archaic panel depicting an unidentifiable stylised plantШаблон:Sfn
88 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Inula helenium (elecampane)Шаблон:Sfn
89 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Marantaceae (arrowroot)Шаблон:Sfn
90 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Vanilla planifolia (vanilla orchid)Шаблон:Sfn
91 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Asclepiadoideae (milkweed)Шаблон:Sfn
92 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Aristolochiaceae (birthwort)Шаблон:Sfn
93 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Passiflora (passion flower)Шаблон:Sfn
94 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Digitalis purpurea (common foxglove)Шаблон:Sfn
95 Archaic panel depicting a stylised ViburnumШаблон:Sfn
96 Archaic panel depicting a stylised irisШаблон:Sfn
97 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Rhododendron arboreum (tree rhododendron)Шаблон:Sfn
98 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Alcea rosea (common hollyhock)Шаблон:Sfn
99 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Ananas comosus (pineapple)Шаблон:Sfn
100 Archaic panel depicting a stylised lilyШаблон:Sfn
101 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Hedychium (ginger lily)Шаблон:Sfn
102 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Gossypium (cotton)Шаблон:Sfn
103 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Bertholletia excelsa (Brazil nut)Шаблон:Sfn
104 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Magnolia fraseri (big-leaf magnolia)Шаблон:Sfn
105 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Zantedeschia aethiopica (arum lily)Шаблон:Sfn
106 Archaic panel depicting an unidentifiable stylised Asteraceae (daisy), thought to be Arctotis or ChrysanthemumШаблон:Sfn
107 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Lagerstroemia speciosa (crepe-myrtle)Шаблон:Sfn
108 Archaic panel depicting a stylised Passiflora caerulea (common passion flower)Шаблон:Sfn
109 Camellia thea, the tea plant (now known as Camellia sinensis),Шаблон:Sfn is native to China, and tea made from its leaves has been drunk in China for millennia.Шаблон:Sfn Since the early 17th century limited quantities of tea were imported into Europe from China, but the drink remained expensive and was initially little known in Britain.Шаблон:Sfn From the early 18th century onwards tea became popular and the British-owned East India Company began to import tea in large quantities from China.Шаблон:Sfn Chinese insistence on being paid in silver for tea, and for other exports such as porcelain, silk and spices, led to trade deficits and to shortages of silver in Britain.Шаблон:Sfn In 1773, in an effort to assist the East India Company and to reduce smuggling into its American colonies, Great Britain enacted the Tea Act, allowing the Company to ship tea duty-free to British North America, provoking the Boston Tea Party and subsequently the American War of Independence and the formation of the United States.Шаблон:Sfn China remained the sole source of tea, but in 1826 the plant was found growing wild in the East India Company's newly conquered territory of Assam.Шаблон:Sfn In 1848 the East India Company sent botanist Robert Fortune, disguised as a Chinese merchant, to visit China's tea-growing areas and steal seedlings of the highest quality tea plants;Шаблон:Efn-ua these were shipped to India in Wardian cases and planted in Assam and other Company-controlled areas of the Himalayan foothills with a similar climate.Шаблон:Sfn These high quality tea plants flourished in these territories, and tea became one of the most important exports of British India.Шаблон:Sfn
110 Aloe succotrina, Fynbos aloe,Шаблон:Sfn is endemic to the Cape Province of South Africa.Шаблон:Sfn Since the days of the Roman Empire medicines derived from Aloe perryi had been imported from Socotra off the coast of north-east Africa,Шаблон:Sfn and when European botanists first reached the Cape they assumed the native aloes to be the same plant as that grown in Socotra and named it accordingly.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn-ua At the time the museum was built, aloe-based medicines were in common use.Шаблон:Sfn
111 Citrus medica, the citron.Шаблон:Sfn The first citrus fruit to be cultivated,[11] since antiquity citrons had been an important ingredient in many medications.Шаблон:Sfn
112 Punica granatum, the pomegranate,Шаблон:Sfn did not grow in the British climate and was rarely used in British cuisine.Шаблон:Sfn It is likely that it was included owing to its religious significance.Шаблон:Sfn Along with Magnolia auriculata, this was one of the two sample images that persuaded Ayrton to authorise the painted ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn
113 Quassia amara, Surinam quassia-wood,Шаблон:Sfn grew widely in the then-British territory of British Guiana.Шаблон:Sfn A natural insecticide, it was valuable to 19th-century medicine as a treatment against parasites and as a larvicide to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.Шаблон:Sfn
114 Akesia africana, the ackee,Шаблон:Sfn is mislabelled on the ceiling; its scientific name was, and remains, Blighia sapida.Шаблон:Sfn (The scientific name Blighia sapida had been given to the ackee by staff at the British Museum, so the museum's staff would certainly have been aware of the correct name. Knapp & Press (2005) speculate that as the plant had been named by Charles Konig,Шаблон:Sfn a mineralogist rather than a botanist, the museum's botanists may have been unhappy accepting the name.Шаблон:Sfn) Ackee originated in West Africa, but was rarely cultivated there either by native inhabitants or by European settlers.Шаблон:Sfn It was introduced to Jamaica in the 18th century as a cheap and nutritious food for the region's slaves;Шаблон:Sfn it became widely popular there, and is now considered a symbol of Jamaica.Шаблон:Sfn
115 Diospyros embryopteris, the guab tree or Malabar ebony, a traditional source of black dye.Шаблон:Sfn
116 Zea mays, sweetcorn or maize,Шаблон:Sfn was the staple food of much of the Americas before European colonisation. Able to grow in a wide variety of climates, by the time the museum was built it was cultivated worldwide.Шаблон:Sfn
117 Cassia fistula, the golden shower tree, is an Indian plant.Шаблон:Sfn A strong laxative, in the 19th century it formed the basis of many European and traditional Indian medicines.Шаблон:Sfn
118 Calotropis procera, the apple of Sodom,Шаблон:Sfn was an inedible plant native to Palestine, and of little commercial use.Шаблон:Sfn It is likely that Waterhouse and the devoutly religious Owen included this plant owing to its religious significance.Шаблон:Sfn
119 Pyrus cydonia, the quince (now known as Cydonia oblonga),Шаблон:Sfn was a commonly eaten food in 19th-century Europe, and was also often grown as an ornamental plant. Knapp & Press (2005) conjecture that the quince was included to allow visitors to compare a familiar plant with those more exotic species also depicted on the ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn
120 Garcinia indica, the kokum, a commonly used element in Indian cuisine.Шаблон:Sfn
121 Myristica fragrans is the source of nutmeg,Шаблон:Sfn for centuries one of the world's most valuable commodities.Шаблон:Sfn Indigenous to the Maluku Islands (the Moluccas), it had historically been imported to Europe via land across Asia to the Ottoman Empire and onwards to Venice, and consequently was extremely scarce and expensive; it was the search for new routes to nutmeg markets that prompted the voyages of Vasco da Gama to India,Шаблон:Sfn of Christopher Columbus to the Americas,Шаблон:Sfn and of John Franklin to the Northwest Passage.Шаблон:Sfn The Maluku Islands were controlled by the Dutch,Шаблон:Efn-ua but in 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars British troops briefly captured the Banda Islands, seizing nutmeg trees which they subsequently planted in Ceylon.Шаблон:Sfn
122 Dillenia ornata, now known as Dillenia aurea,Шаблон:Sfn is a flowering shrub native to present-day India, Myanmar and Thailand.[12] First described in Nathaniel Wallich's Plantae Asiaticae Rariores, whose botanical illustrations inspired many of the ceiling's archaic panels, its bright yellow flowers and ability to grow in the British climate made it a popular ornamental plant in the 19th century.Шаблон:Sfn
123 Ilex aquifolium, English holly,Шаблон:Sfn is one of the very few evergreen plants native to the British Isles.Шаблон:Sfn A common motif in British folklore and in Christian and pre-Christian symbolism, it would have been immediately familiar to the museum's visitors; Knapp & Press (2005) speculate that Waterhouse intentionally included this highly recognisable plant to encourage viewers to examine the less-familiar species also pictured.Шаблон:Sfn
124 Ricinus communis, the castor bean,Шаблон:Sfn was the source of castor oil, one of Victorian Britain's most commonly used medications.Шаблон:Sfn Castor oil was also a valuable lubricant in this period.Шаблон:Sfn Although native to Africa, it had spread throughout tropical regions, and at the time was thought to originate in India.Шаблон:Sfn
125 Pyrus communis, the European pear tree,Шаблон:Sfn was one of the most important native fruit trees in Britain.Шаблон:Sfn Its distinctive fruit would have been immediately recognisable to 19th-century viewers, serving to attract viewers to examine the ceiling more closely.Шаблон:Sfn
126 Cerasus communis, the sour cherry (now known as Prunus cerasus),Шаблон:Sfn was introduced to Britain by the Roman Empire and flourished in the climate. Frequently used in English cookery, particularly cherry pie, its distinctive red fruit would have been easily recognised by 19th-century visitors; Knapp & Press (2005) conjecture that as with the quince, it was included to allow viewers to compare this relatively familiar plant to the less recognisable species also illustrated.Шаблон:Sfn
127–132 Eucalyptus globulus, the Tasmanian blue gum tree.Шаблон:Sfn Although not native to Britain, in this period it was grown widely in Spain for the production of eucalyptus oil.Шаблон:Sfn Knapp & Press (2005) contend that this tree, with which British visitors were unlikely to have been familiar, was intentionally included among more familiar plants as a device to attract the attention of viewers.Шаблон:Sfn
133–138 Pinus sylvestris, the Scots pine,Шаблон:Sfn Great Britain's only native species of pine.Шаблон:Sfn As much of England had been cleared of woodland by this time, the remnants of the pine Caledonian Forest formed some of the most significant woodland in Britain, and the Scots pine was a national symbol of Scotland.Шаблон:Sfn
139–144 Citrus limonum, the lemon tree.Шаблон:Sfn As with the orange, lemons rarely grew in Britain, but were also popular in British cuisine.Шаблон:Sfn
145–150 Ficus carica, the fig tree,Шаблон:Sfn was largely unknown in Britain. As with the olive, figs and fig-leaves would have been familiar to 19th-century British visitors from the Biblical narrative;Шаблон:Sfn 19th-century visitors would likely have recognised the fig tree from its leaves rather than its fruit, owing to the use of fig-leaves in most depictions of Adam and Eve.Шаблон:Sfn
151–156 Olea europea, the olive tree,Шаблон:Sfn was at the time almost unknown in Britain; they did not grow in the British climate, and both olives and olive oil were rarely used in British cookery. However, they would have been familiar to the museum's visitors, as olives were frequently mentioned in the Bible, and olive oil was often used as holy oil by the Anglican Church.Шаблон:Sfn
157–162 Pyrus malus, the apple tree,Шаблон:Sfn had for centuries been a staple fruit of the British diet.Шаблон:Sfn As a cultivated fruit developed by agricultural selection, the apple also symbolised human dominance over nature.Шаблон:Sfn At the time the ceilings were painted, botanists wrongly believed the apple tree to be descended from Malus sylvestris, the crab apple, and consequently native to Britain.Шаблон:Sfn

North Hall panels

North Hall ceiling
Ceiling of the North Hall

There are two rows of nine panels apiece on each side of the apex.Шаблон:Sfn The central (highest) rows on each side consist of plain green panels, each containing a heraldic rose, thistle or shamrock in representation of England, Scotland and Ireland, the three nations then constituting the United Kingdom.Шаблон:Sfn The nine lower panels on each side each illustrate a different plant found in Britain or Ireland.Шаблон:Sfn

Файл:Natural History Museum, London, North Hall ceiling layout.png
1 Lonicera periclymenum, woodbine or common honeysuckle,Шаблон:Sfn is highly valued as an ornamental plant, and has one of the sweetest floral scents of any native British plant.[13]
2 Malva sylvestris, common mallow,Шаблон:Sfn is an archaeophyte (a species introduced to Britain before 1500).Шаблон:Sfn It grows on rough ground, particularly along roads, railways and the edges of fields.Шаблон:Sfn
3 Corylus avellana, common hazel,Шаблон:Sfn is one of the most widely grown varieties used for commercial hazelnut production.[14]
4 Sonchus palustris, marsh sowthistle.Шаблон:Sfn Once a common species in Britain, its range was drastically reduced following the draining of the Fens.Шаблон:Sfn
5 Sambucus nigra, elder,Шаблон:Sfn was a common ornamental plant. At the time the museum was built it was also in common use as a herbal remedy.Шаблон:Sfn
6 Datura stramonium, jimsonweed or thornapple,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn is the only neophyte species (a species introduced after 1500 that now grows wild) represented on the North Hall ceiling.Шаблон:Sfn A commonly found weed, jimsonweed contains high levels of hyoscine (scopolamine), and at the time the museum was built was used as a herbal remedy for asthma and motion sickness.Шаблон:Sfn Jimsonweed was also well known as a powerful hallucinogen; its name originates from an incident in 1676 in which troops stationed in Jamestown during Bacon's Rebellion accidentally ate the plant and "turn'd natural Fools" for eleven days.Шаблон:Sfn
7 Polygonum bistorta, common bistort (also known as Bistorta officinalis and Persicaria bistorta),Шаблон:Sfn had been a common plant in the British Isles but its range was drastically reduced by cultivation.Шаблон:Sfn It became popular as an ornamental plant, and spread from gardens to once more become a common species throughout the British Isles.Шаблон:Sfn
8 Ranunculus lingua, greater spearwort,Шаблон:Sfn is a close relative of the better-known buttercup.Шаблон:Sfn It grows in the wild throughout the British Isles and Europe.Шаблон:Sfn
9 Helleborus niger, Christmas rose,Шаблон:Sfn is a shrub native to the Alps. Christmas rose was a popular ornamental plant but did not grow in the wild in the British Isles; Knapp & Press (2005) conjecture that Waterhouse included it to make the point that cultivated ornamental gardens also represented an important botanical habitat.Шаблон:Sfn
10 Epilobium Angustifolium, rosebay willowherb (also known as Chamaenerion angustifolium)Шаблон:Sfn was at the time the museum was built a relatively uncommon plant, found primarily in rocky uplands.Шаблон:Sfn As a species able to grow in rocky areas and to propagate quickly via rhizomes into areas cleared of other species by burning, during the Second World War it spread rapidly in urban areas destroyed by bombing,Шаблон:Sfn gaining rosebay willowherb the nickname of "fireweed" by which it remains frequently known.Шаблон:Sfn
11 Onopordum acanthium, Scotch thistle,Шаблон:Sfn is a national emblem of Scotland.Шаблон:Sfn At the time the museum was built it was believed to have originated in East Anglia, but is now thought to be an introduced species.Шаблон:Sfn
12 Helleborus viridis, green hellebore,Шаблон:Sfn is native to Wales and the south and west of England.Шаблон:Sfn A popular ornamental plant, it has spread from gardens and grows wild throughout Britain.Шаблон:Sfn
13 Inula helenium, elecampane,Шаблон:Sfn was a significant source of inulin, and as such had been valued as a medicinal plant since the Roman era.Шаблон:Sfn Although an introduced species, it has grown wild throughout Britain for centuries.Шаблон:Sfn
14 Digitalis purpurea, common foxglove,Шаблон:Sfn has been a medicinal plant for millennia.Шаблон:Sfn One of its active ingredients, digitoxin, was the most significant drug for cardiac conditions at the time the museum was built.Шаблон:Sfn
15 Rosa canina, dog rose,Шаблон:Sfn was a common ornamental species. It would also have been familiar to the museum's visitors as a plant then in common medicinal use.Шаблон:Sfn
16 Glaucium luteum, yellow horned poppy (now known as Glaucium flavum).Шаблон:Sfn A source of glaucine,[15] it is used as a cough suppressant.[16]
17 Aconitum napellus, monk's hood or wolfsbane.Шаблон:Sfn Aconitum napellus napellus, the subspecies found in Britain, is one of the few plants endemic to Britain.Шаблон:Sfn
18Шаблон:NbspШаблон:NbspШаблон:NbspШаблон:NbspШаблон:NbspШаблон:NbspШаблон:NbspШаблон:NbspШаблон:NbspШаблон:Nbsp Daphne laureola, spurge laurel.Шаблон:Sfn As a plant toxic to mammals but not to birds, it was widely cultivated on country estates to provide ground cover for the rearing of pheasants for shooting.Шаблон:Sfn

Footnotes

Шаблон:Notelist-ua

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

External links

Шаблон:Commons category

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