Cumberland House Natural History Museum

01/06/2026

From time to time throughout the day Glasswing butterflies fly in large numbers around the butterfly house. They are ‘lekking’ a dance to attract females.

27/05/2026

Richard, one of our Natural History Collections Volunteers has written this super blog about the moth collection that he has been working on.

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23/05/2026

Some lovely bees created by visitors to day- we were focussing on bees having 4 wings

23/05/2026

Meet the beekeepers and learn about pollinators. Bee related activities and making seed bombs. Today 23 May until 3pm

22/05/2026

Our new exhibition’Hidden in Stone’ opens tomorrow 23 May. Dr Neil Gostling of The University of Southampton has curated the exhibition with contributions from University of Portsmouth, Dinosaur Isle and others.
Fossils from our Natural History Collections are on display, some for the first time.

21/05/2026

Due to unforeseen circumstances the museum will be closed on Sunday 24 May

24/04/2026

Some talks coming up Portsmouth Museum & Art Gallery starting next month. The first one in May is by the Curator of Natural History

Our free afternoon talks programme is back!

With themes connecting to natural history, family history, and football history there are some fascinating talks lined up.

All talks are free with refreshment provided.

Bookings are now live to book onto the first talk on 6th May (rearranged from the 5th in the brochure) by our Curator of Natural History Christine Taylor titled 'James Jackson - Rediscovering a 'lost' geology collection'.

Time: 12:30 -1:30.

To book, please click here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/afternoon-talks-at-portsmouth-museum-and-art-gallery-tickets-1988157012143?aff=ebdsoporgprofile&_gl=1*g2zkpz*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTA5MjUwMDU0Ni4xNzc3MDI3NjI1*_ga_TQVES5V6SH*czE3NzcwMjc2MjQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NzcwMjc2MjQkajYwJGwwJGgw

13/04/2026

The museum will be closed from Tuesday 14 April to Friday 17 April to enable essential maintenance to to take place. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

02/04/2026

A trip to the Natural History Museum will be extra sweet this week! We have Pinders Patisserie outside Cumberland House until Friday, selling hot drinks and delicious treats. ☕️

18/03/2026

Exciting news - thrilled to hear Portsmouth has made it in the UK City of Culture longlist!

We are Portsmouth Natural History Museum and we're backing Portsmouth's bid to become UK City of Culture 2029.

Portsmouth Creates
We Are Pompey 2029
Portsmouth City Council
Department for Culture, Media and Sport