The ECHO was given an exclusive look inside the museum’s renovated gallery
16:08, 11 Feb 2026
Amy Wildgoose, Head of Creative Studios at the World Museum in Liverpool unwraps a dinosaur skeleton as the new Wild World exhibition is prepared for opening(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A much-loved gallery at Liverpool’s World Museum is set to reopen its doors after weeks of work. The Dinosaur and Natural World gallery at World Museum Liverpool, which houses the museum’s dinosaur, animal and habitats displays, closed on Monday, November 3. The gallery is scheduled to reopen on Saturday, February 14 as ‘Wild World.’
The ECHO was given behind-the-scenes access as the World Museum put together the finishing touches to the new display. Replicas of dinosaurs and the gallery’s famous lion and zebra scene were still under plastic covering as work continued around the gallery. Curators were installing one of its mounted seagulls, while others were fitting new showcases which will protect the future collection.
With objects from the museum’s botany, geology, entomology and zoology collections, the gallery has been refreshed throughout. Head of World Museum Liverpool Ashley Cooke spoke to the ECHO about the work which has been going on since last year.
He said: “We’re really excited. We’ve been working with designers since last August, closed the gallery in November and now we’re reopening on February 14.
“It’s just great to see the project coming to its conclusion and just see visitors in there and enjoying it. It’s one of our most popular galleries. We sadly had to close it. But it really did need a refresh.
A huge seagull exhibit is installed as the new Wild World exhibition prepares to open at the World Museum in Liverpool(Image: Liverpool Echo)
“We’ve got a lot of familiar items that are really popular with our visitors like replicas of dinosaurs. We have these environmental scenic scenes of the Savannah and the Northern Forest. But what we’ve done is introduced new elements, new stories, new objects in the collections to create more of connectedness to take visitors on a journey through a sequence of worlds. We’re dealing with over 500 million years.”
One of its most recognisable exhibits is the lion and zebra scene. The scene will be on display once again but visitors will notice a change.
Ashley said: “It’s a very popular display at the gallery, but what we’ve done is make changes around that scene. They have to tell bigger stories. So we have a lion chasing a zebra, but what we wanted to discuss is lionesses are actually more known for their hunting. So we’ve introduced a lioness which has never been on display before. It’s in a huge showcase, it looks really stunning.”
Exhibits are wrapped to protect them as the new Wild World exhibition prepares to open at the World Museum in Liverpool(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Looking ahead to the future, visitors can still expect to see more changes. Ashley added: “We’ve got a lot more work to do in World Museum. The 4th floor here, and natural history displays, some of them date back to the ’60s. The actual gallery itself was created in the mid ’70s.
“This summer, we will be having, NML is 40, an exhibition celebrating the organisation group. National Museums Liverpool came to be in 1986.
“An act of parliament made these museums national. We have this exhibition where we’ll be sharing lots more stories, not just on World Museum, but the other museums. World Museum we’re 175-years-old this year. We’re the oldest museum of that group.
“We’ve got more work to do. We’re looking at our temporary exhibition programme, and more work with some of our permanent galleries.”
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