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Tuesday, July 28, 2020, 18:03
Dusting off the past: London's history museum prepares to reopen
By Reuters
Tuesday, July 28, 2020, 18:03 By Reuters

Members of the restoration team clean 'Hope', a skeleton of a blue whale, hanging in the main Hintze Hall of the Natural History Museum in London on July 27, 2020, ahead of the museum's reopening on Aug 5. (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

LONDON - London's Natural History Museum is dusting off the blue whale that soars above its central hall, its dinosaur skeletons and thousands of other exhibits in preparation for reopening next month after COVID-19 forced its closure in March.

We want the museum to look at its fabulous best.

Michael Dixon, Director of London's Natural History Museum

Museum Director Michael Dixon said staff had made the museum, which usually attracts about 5 million visitors a year, safe for the limited numbers it can accommodate with social distancing measures.

"We want the museum to look at its fabulous best - this great cathedral to nature," he told Reuters.

"As you can see behind me, Hope the whale is getting her annual dusting, we have brought that forward this year, and she will look her magnificent best on the fifth of August when we re-open to the public."

A sign on coronavirus guidelines for visitors to London's Natural History Museum is pictured in the main Hintze Hall, July 27, 2020. (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

The museum, which has been based in South Kensington since 1881, shut its doors on March 17, six days before British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered a nationwide lockdown.

Dixon said the closure had hit the world-renowned research center's finances, both through the loss of donations and the cancelation of events.

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A member of the restoration team cleans a giraffe displayed inside the Natural History Museum in London on July 27, 2020. (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

The museum would receive help from the government's 1.57 billion pound (US$2 billion) package for the cultural sector, he said, but it would not be commercially viable longer term unless visitor numbers could be increased above the 20 percent capacity social distancing allowed.

However, those who do have a ticket will not have to jostle with the usual crowds to see the most popular exhibits.

"When people visit the museum over the next few months they are going to get a fantastic VIP experience because they will be able to see things without so many people around them, and I think that will be a wonderful experience for many, many people," he said.

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