Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal attended the opening of Scott’s Last Expedition, the Natural History Museum’s new exhibition, last night. The exhibition is on view to the public from 20 January to 2 September 2012.
Inside Captain Scott’s Antarctic hut today. © New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust.
Explore the captivating story of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s last expedition to Antarctica in 1910-1913, the Terra Nova, in this groundbreaking exhibition. Scott’s Last Expedition features rare artefacts used by Scott’s team and scientific specimens, appearing together for the first time, alongside a life-sized representation of Scott’s hut that survives in Antarctica.
Scott’s Last Expedition marks the centenary of Scott reaching the South Pole and his tragic death.
Visitors find out about the many amazing tales of human endurance. For example, the notorious Winter Journey to Cape Crozier to collect emperor penguin eggs – temperatures dropped so low that the men’s sleeping bags were constantly frozen.
The exhibition reunites for the first time real objects used by Scott and his team together with scientific specimens collected on the expedition – 40,000 of these specimens are looked after by the Museum and studied by scientists worldwide.
Visitors can also experience what everyday life was like with the life-size representation of the hut, which still survives in Antarctica today.
Scott’s grandson Falcon Scott is helping conserve the hut in Antarctica – it is the first time he has been to the expedition base. © Antarctic Heritage Trust, nzaht.org
The wooden hut at Cape Evans was home for 20 men as well as having a photographic darkroom, laboratories and space for cooking.
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