New World Gallery now open at Horniman Museum

Over 3,000 objects from around the world exploring the question of what it means to be human have gone on display as the Horniman Museum’s World Gallery is now open to the public.

The 600sq metre gallery at the London-based museum has opened following a major redevelopment of the historic South Hall to provide a contemporary setting for the Horniman’s anthropology collection.

A number of new acquisitions, special commissions and interactive exhibits are showcased alongside important and intriguing objects from the Horniman’s collection, including many on display for the first time in a generation.

The World Gallery showcases historic and contemporary objects from all five inhabited continents to show visitors some of the ways that people live their lives, looking at common virtues of love and compassion, trust and friendship, dignity and courage.

Visitors are invited to discover and celebrate the beauty and diversity of the world’s cultures, and to ‘share a sense of belonging and pride in human creativity and resilience’.

What’s in the new gallery?

The World Gallery is divided into four interlinked spaces. An Introductory area welcomes visitors into the gallery, where audio-visual installations and displays explore the sentimental attachment people have to objects.

Then groups will visit Encounters, with displays showing examples of ways of living across different times and places; Perspectives, an area that reflects on how and why we categorise, describe and understand the world; and Horniman’s Vision, which gives an overview of the Horniman family and the museum’s history.

The gallery space is completed with a display of kites and banners hanging from the newly renovated ceiling vault.

Groups visiting the Horniman Museum will find that entry is free.

For more information visit www.horniman.ac.uk.

(Photo credit: Tania Dolvers)