After more than 100 years in London, Dippy the Diplodocus is travelling around the UK and spending the summer in Birmingham...
The Natural History Museum’s iconic Diplodocus cast - fondly known as Dippy - is currently on tour, and as of 26 May he’ll be on display at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) for the second leg of his road trip.
Tickets to see Dippy are completely free, and there are extensive additional activities taking place during his stay too, including group sleepovers, curator-led tours and even an opportunity to ‘dine with Dippy’. Anticipation of his arrival is building around Birmingham, with more than 76,000 tickets already booked.
“People just love dinosaurs,” says Gurminder Kenth, manager at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. “They’re so fascinating; they’re impressive to look at, and there’s just so much to learn from them.”
Some visitors may remember the much-loved papier-mâché T-Rex that used to be on display at the museum. With that in mind, Gurminder was keen to make sure that Birmingham was a stop-off destination on Dippy’s tour.
Not only have BMAG had to meet the Natural History Museum’s credentials to secure Dippy’s visit, getting him into the exhibition space will be a significant task. At an impressive 21.3 metres long, 4.3 metres wide and 4.25 metres high, Dippy is expected to take nine days to install, with help from the Natural History Museum’s own technical team. It may sound like quite a feat, but with everything having run smoothly in Dorset (the first stop on Dippy’s tour), Gurminder doesn’t have any concerns. In fact, she’s confident that Dippy will look better at BMAG than he ever has before. “Here at Birmingham we differ from the Natural History Museum and Dorset County Museum in that we have a low roof, so I think Dippy will look much bigger and very impressive in our space.”
But Dippy certainly won’t be on his own in Birmingham. The exhibition in the Gas Hall will be focusing on the idea of birds as living dinosaurs - as Lukas Large, curator of Natural Science at Birmingham Museums Trust, explains: “We’ll be looking at the evolution of birds from their dinosaur ancestors into the animals that we see today, and encouraging people to look at birds in a different way, to get out into nature and engage with wildlife.”
Thanks to funds from Friends of Birmingham Museums, BMAG was able to carry out the necessary conservation work on its bird collection, which hasn’t been out on display for about 20 years. The birds will now be meeting their ‘distant cousin’ Dippy.
So it looks like BMAG is fulfilling the Natural History Museum’s precedent in encouraging visitors to explore nature, and drawing attention to an array of biodiversity. “That’s what’s so great about Dippy’s tour,” adds Gurminder. “Each venue is able to put their own stamp on the exhibition. There’ll be different interpretations and different storylines using Dippy, so there’ll be a lot of learning throughout the whole tour, which I think is really exciting.”
But with Dippy’s stay at BMAG coinciding with the May half term and the summer holidays, there’s limited opportunity for school trips and events. For this reason, the museum will be focusing on family programmes throughout Dippy’s time at the venue. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be a palaeontologist in the giant sand pit, or enjoy fun activities in the Dippy Family Room.
But it’s not all just for kids. Lukas himself will be giving tours of the exhibition, and there’ll be additional talks from paleontologists Professor Richard Butler and Dean Lomax.
So what is it about Dippy that makes him so iconic? “He’s been at the Natural History Museum for over a hundred years,” explains Lukas. “Generations of people have seen him and they always remember him.”
“It’s like Dippy is a rock star,” Gurminder adds, “and the people of Birmingham are so excited to see him.”
Since his time at the Natural History Museum, Dippy’s had a makeover. Those who’re familiar with the Diplodocus may notice a few changes, the most notable being his new hands. “The Diplodocus that Dippy is cast from didn’t actually have hands when it was found,” explains Lukas, “so examples had to be used from a different skeleton. But since digging up more Diplodocus skeletons, we now know what Dippy’s real hands would’ve looked like.”
And this isn’t the first time that changes have been made to Dippy since his installation in the Natural History Museum. Previously, his tail used to lie flat on the ground; now it’s raised, to reflect how a Diplodocus would have used it to balance. “The Natural History Museum used to keep spare parts when Dippy’s tail was on the ground, because pieces kept disappearing,” Lukas reveals.
With Dippy being such an impressive installation wherever he’s displayed, it’s hardly surprising that visitors want to take a souvenir home with them. So what does Birmingham have on offer for its Dippy-adoring public? “We’re selling a Diplodocus pin badge online, and quite a few of those have already gone,” says Gurminder. “There’s also the Dippy cuddly toy, which is in high demand at Dorset, and we can’t wait to get our hands on that!”
Dippy visits Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from 26 May to 9 September.
After more than 100 years in London, Dippy the Diplodocus is travelling around the UK and spending the summer in Birmingham...
The Natural History Museum’s iconic Diplodocus cast - fondly known as Dippy - is currently on tour, and as of 26 May he’ll be on display at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) for the second leg of his road trip.
Tickets to see Dippy are completely free, and there are extensive additional activities taking place during his stay too, including group sleepovers, curator-led tours and even an opportunity to ‘dine with Dippy’. Anticipation of his arrival is building around Birmingham, with more than 76,000 tickets already booked.
“People just love dinosaurs,” says Gurminder Kenth, manager at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. “They’re so fascinating; they’re impressive to look at, and there’s just so much to learn from them.”
Some visitors may remember the much-loved papier-mâché T-Rex that used to be on display at the museum. With that in mind, Gurminder was keen to make sure that Birmingham was a stop-off destination on Dippy’s tour.
Not only have BMAG had to meet the Natural History Museum’s credentials to secure Dippy’s visit, getting him into the exhibition space will be a significant task. At an impressive 21.3 metres long, 4.3 metres wide and 4.25 metres high, Dippy is expected to take nine days to install, with help from the Natural History Museum’s own technical team. It may sound like quite a feat, but with everything having run smoothly in Dorset (the first stop on Dippy’s tour), Gurminder doesn’t have any concerns. In fact, she’s confident that Dippy will look better at BMAG than he ever has before. “Here at Birmingham we differ from the Natural History Museum and Dorset County Museum in that we have a low roof, so I think Dippy will look much bigger and very impressive in our space.”
But Dippy certainly won’t be on his own in Birmingham. The exhibition in the Gas Hall will be focusing on the idea of birds as living dinosaurs - as Lukas Large, curator of Natural Science at Birmingham Museums Trust, explains: “We’ll be looking at the evolution of birds from their dinosaur ancestors into the animals that we see today, and encouraging people to look at birds in a different way, to get out into nature and engage with wildlife.”
Thanks to funds from Friends of Birmingham Museums, BMAG was able to carry out the necessary conservation work on its bird collection, which hasn’t been out on display for about 20 years. The birds will now be meeting their ‘distant cousin’ Dippy.
So it looks like BMAG is fulfilling the Natural History Museum’s precedent in encouraging visitors to explore nature, and drawing attention to an array of biodiversity. “That’s what’s so great about Dippy’s tour,” adds Gurminder. “Each venue is able to put their own stamp on the exhibition. There’ll be different interpretations and different storylines using Dippy, so there’ll be a lot of learning throughout the whole tour, which I think is really exciting.”
But with Dippy’s stay at BMAG coinciding with the May half term and the summer holidays, there’s limited opportunity for school trips and events. For this reason, the museum will be focusing on family programmes throughout Dippy’s time at the venue. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be a palaeontologist in the giant sand pit, or enjoy fun activities in the Dippy Family Room.
But it’s not all just for kids. Lukas himself will be giving tours of the exhibition, and there’ll be additional talks from paleontologists Professor Richard Butler and Dean Lomax.
So what is it about Dippy that makes him so iconic? “He’s been at the Natural History Museum for over a hundred years,” explains Lukas. “Generations of people have seen him and they always remember him.”
“It’s like Dippy is a rock star,” Gurminder adds, “and the people of Birmingham are so excited to see him.”
Since his time at the Natural History Museum, Dippy’s had a makeover. Those who’re familiar with the Diplodocus may notice a few changes, the most notable being his new hands. “The Diplodocus that Dippy is cast from didn’t actually have hands when it was found,” explains Lukas, “so examples had to be used from a different skeleton. But since digging up more Diplodocus skeletons, we now know what Dippy’s real hands would’ve looked like.”
And this isn’t the first time that changes have been made to Dippy since his installation in the Natural History Museum. Previously, his tail used to lie flat on the ground; now it’s raised, to reflect how a Diplodocus would have used it to balance. “The Natural History Museum used to keep spare parts when Dippy’s tail was on the ground, because pieces kept disappearing,” Lukas reveals.
With Dippy being such an impressive installation wherever he’s displayed, it’s hardly surprising that visitors want to take a souvenir home with them. So what does Birmingham have on offer for its Dippy-adoring public? “We’re selling a Diplodocus pin badge online, and quite a few of those have already gone,” says Gurminder. “There’s also the Dippy cuddly toy, which is in high demand at Dorset, and we can’t wait to get our hands on that!”
Dippy visits Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from 26 May to 9 September.
Tickets and more info is available HERE