Last autumn I was able to visit a museum that had been on my bucket list for a while. I had planned to visit while I was living in Canterbury undertaking my PhD at the University of Kent, however the COVID pandemic got in the way. However, it had been high on my list since and I am so happy that I managed to visit. So what was this place? You’ve read the title of this blog so you know that it is the Powell-Cotton Museum. The Museum’s animal specimens and dioramas represent a unique chapter in museum history, the culmination of 40 years of field collecting, scientific documentation, and pioneering taxidermy by Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton (1866–1940). It is for this reason that I have wanted to visit for the past 6 years or so. At a time when most museum displays consisted of mounted horns or trophies on flat boards, Powell-Cotton envisioned three-dimensional, lifelike scenes that would bring animals to life in habitats evocative of the wild places from which they came. His interests was more than aesthetic: they were grounded in scientific observation. Powell-Cotton recorded detailed field notes, photographs and even early cine-film, guiding the taxidermists in making the displays anatomically and behaviourally convincing. The result is a collection of thousands of specimens displayed in large habitat dioramas, some of the oldest and most ambitious in existence.
Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton was a British explorer, hunter, naturalist and army officer in the Northumberland Fusiliers. Born in Margate, Kent, Percy was an avid traveller and scholar, becoming a fellow of the Zoological Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Royal Anthropological Institute. Between 1887 and 1939, he conducted 28 expeditions to Africa and Asia, extensively collecting zoological specimens, ethnographic cultural objects, archaeological finds and photographic and film records from the regions he visited. At a time when public access to the natural world was limited, and photography and film were still developing, he sought to document animal species and world cultures with precision.
In 1896, faced with an expanding personal collection too large for his home at Quex Park, Birchington, Kent, Powell-Cotton built a dedicated pavilion to house his natural history specimens. This modest structure marked the birth of the Powell-Cotton Museum and was initially a single room devoted to his taxidermied animals. The museum opened to the public in the early 20th century, rapidly growing beyond its original pavilion. After Percy’s death in 1940, his son Christopher Powell-Cotton expanded and formalised the galleries to include not only natural history but also archaeological, ethnographic and fine art collections from Percy and his daughters. Over time the institution evolved from a private collection to a museum trust, now governed by the Powell-Cotton Trust, a registered charity responsible for preserving and interpreting the collections for research, education, and public enjoyment.
Today the Powell-Cotton Museum’s natural history collection includes approximately 6,500 mammal specimens from Africa and India, in addition to a variety of birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Many were collected by Powell-Cotton during his 28 expeditions to Africa and Asia. The specimens represent more than 230 mammal species from over 40 families and 149 genera, including many that were either newly recognised scientifically or extremely rare at the time of collection. These include iconic African large mammals, like zebra, giraffe, buffalo and rhino, as well as diverse antelope, primates, carnivores and elusive small mammals. Beyond sheer numbers, the collection is renowned for the quality, documentation and presentation of its specimens, which not only serve as public exhibits but also as valuable research material.
Late 19th- and early 20th-century natural history exhibitions typically presented animals as isolated trophy mounts such as heads on plaques, skins on hooks, or specimens crowded in glass cases. Powell-Cotton rejected this model and embraced dioramas: three-dimensional scenes combining taxidermied animals with painted backgrounds and sculpted vegetation to simulate real habitats. In doing so, he was influenced by a broader movement toward habitat display in museums, but his work stands out for its scope and ambition. These were not simply taxidermy mounts, they were educational environments meant to convey behaviours, ecological relationships, and landscape context. Powell-Cotton believed that presenting animals with behavioural and anatomical context was important for education and scientific understanding.
Powell-Cotton worked closely with the renowned taxidermy firm Rowland Ward Ltd., as well as other expert preparators, between 1896 and the 1950s to achieve his vision. He provided detailed field observations (including suggested poses, behavioural notes, and anatomical references) which allowed the taxidermists to create mounts that went far beyond static representations. The result was a shift in museum practice: specimens became dynamic participants in realistic scenes, presenting animals in life-like postures such as running, grazing, interacting and even fighting, rather than merely as isolated curiosities. The backdrops behind the specimens were also crucial to the diorama effect. Many were painted by artists (including a shell-shocked Belgian painter employed during World War I, who used the work as therapeutic aid) creating landscapes that extended the physical space of the diorama into convincing perspective. All of this hard work combines to provide the illusion that you have just wondered into one of the many habitats on display and that you have caught the wildlife in the act of it’s day-to-day business.
The museum’s natural history displays span three primary galleries devoted to animal dioramas, each with its own focus and distinctive specimens. We’re going to take a detailed look at each of these individually before exploring the rest of the museum.
Gallery 1: Africa, India & the Great Natural History Dioramas
Gallery 1 (completed in the 1930s) is the first gallery most visitors encounter and contains three of the museum’s most ambitious dioramas.
Primate Diorama
Perhaps the most famous display is the primate scene, featuring dozens of specimens of African monkeys and apes. This is one of the largest and most comprehensive primate dioramas in Europe. Here visitors see primate taxa including colobus monkeys (Colobus guereza), gelada baboons (Theropithecus gelada) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), positioned at various levels of the ‘tree’, suggesting social behaviour and ecological diversity. These specimens were not merely trophies. Powell-Cotton was meticulous in capturing species-specific details, postures and groupings that reflect his field observations. The scene offers a rare historical record of primate diversity (including taxa that are now endangered) mounted in sympatric context rather than in isolation. Painted background scenes extend the illusion of depth, while sculpted branches and foliage integrate the specimens into a convincing forest habitat.
Watering Hole Diorama
Another major scene, often referred to as the ‘watering hole’, brings together a representative range of African savannah species that would naturally converge at a shared water source. Prominent among them are large herbivores such as buffalo (Syncerus caffer), zebra (Equus quagga), giraffe (Giraffa antiquorum) and various species of antelope, animals whose size and numbers reflect their dependence on regular access to water for survival. These grazing and browsing mammals are shown at different distances from the water’s edge, mirroring real behaviour in which dominant or less vulnerable individuals drink first while others remain cautious. Their inclusion emphasises the central role of waterholes as gathering points within dry or seasonal environments. Alongside these herbivores, the diorama also suggests the constant presence of potential predators, even if they are not always at the centre of the scene. Carnivorous species such as lions or other large predators are represented either directly or implied through the alert postures of prey animals. This balance between predator and prey highlights the tension that defines life around watering holes, where animals must weigh the necessity of drinking against the risk of attack. Smaller species, often overlooked in traditional displays, are also included to demonstrate the full ecological spectrum of the savannah, reinforcing the idea that waterholes support entire communities, not just the most dramatic animals.
Indian Subcontinent Diorama
The Indian subcontinent diorama also found in Gallery 1 presents a vivid depiction of wildlife from central India, particularly the region of Madhya Pradesh, which Powell-Cotton visited during his travels in Asia. This display brings together a range of mammal species within a single, carefully composed habitat scene, allowing visitors to appreciate the richness and variety of Indian fauna. The animals are arranged in naturalistic poses that suggest movement and interaction, conveying the rhythms of life within a warm, forested landscape shaped by seasonal change and diverse terrain. As with the museum’s African displays, the Indian diorama reflects Powell-Cotton’s commitment to realism and scientific accuracy. The animals were mounted using detailed field notes and photographs taken during his expeditions, ensuring correct proportions, postures and species characteristics. As with all of the dioramas, backdrops and carefully modelled vegetation extend the sense of depth, placing the specimens within an environment that evokes the forests and plains of central India. By presenting animals within a shared setting rather than as isolated specimens, the diorama helps visitors understand how different species coexist and adapt to the same ecological conditions. The Indian subcontinent diorama also has lasting educational and historical significance. It documents a period when many of these species were more widespread than they are today, offering a visual record of biodiversity before modern pressures such as habitat loss and population decline became severe. At the same time, the display reflects early twentieth-century museum practices and the global reach of Powell-Cotton’s collecting activities.
African Desert Diorama
The African Desert animals diorama at the Powell-Cotton Museum showcases species adapted to some of the most extreme and arid environments on the continent, such as the Sahara and semi-desert regions of North Africa. The animals displayed typically include desert-dwelling antelope like addax (Addax nasomaculatus) and oryx (Oryx beisa), alongside smaller mammals adapted to heat, scarce water and sparse vegetation. These species are characterised by physical traits such as pale coats that reflect sunlight, long limbs for travelling great distances, and specialised hooves suited to sand rather than hard ground. Together, they illustrate how evolution has shaped animals to survive in environments where resources are limited and conditions can be harsh. The diorama also highlights behavioural adaptations essential to desert life. As an example, some of the species represented are crepuscular or nocturnal, avoiding the intense daytime heat by being active during cooler hours. Others obtain most of their moisture from the plants they eat rather than from open water sources, reducing their dependence on rare desert waterholes. The animals are arranged in calm but alert poses, reflecting the cautious energy conservation that is vital for survival in arid landscapes. This careful positioning helps visitors understand that desert ecosystems, while seemingly barren, support a diverse and finely balanced community of life. As you can see from the photo below, the species are mainly antelope. Who knew there were so many?
Gallery 2: The Original Pavilion
Gallery 2 is the original 1896 pavilion where Powell-Cotton first exhibited his specimens. It contains the museum’s oldest room-sized diorama, representing mammals of the Himalayas and adjoining mountainous habitats.
Kashmir Diorama
This pioneering display, created early in the museum’s history and unchanged since installation, depicts the wildlife of the Kashmir region, an area characterised by forested valleys, rivers and mountain foothills at the western edge of the Himalayas. This display presents a selection of animals adapted to a landscape that bridges lowland forests and high-altitude terrain, reflecting the ecological diversity of the region. Species featured includes animals like brown bears (Ursus arctos), wild goats, Himalayan marmots (Marmota himalayana), Asiatic wolves (Canis lupus) and Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii). The Kashmir diorama also carries historical and educational significance. It reflects Powell-Cotton’s travels in the Indian subcontinent and his interest in representing regional variation within broader Asian ecosystems. Many of the species displayed have experienced habitat pressure or population decline since the time the specimens were collected, making the diorama an important visual record of past biodiversity. This Himalayan diorama’s age and integrity make it one of the most historically significant habitat displays anywhere and a testament to early 20th-century museum craftsmanship.
Mounted Heads and Trophy Collection
Gallery 2 also showcases a large array of mounted heads from Africa and Asia (think buffalo, deer, antelope, water buffalo and other ungulates) demonstrating Powell-Cotton’s broad collecting reach before diorama technique became central to the museum’s identity. This gives me the perfect opportunity to discuss something quite important, take a look at the photo below and see if you can figure out where I am going with this, give yourself a few moments to do so. Right, time is up! What did you notice? Most of the mounts of the animals within the display are male. This is not an isolated case, many collections of animal specimens in trophy and early natural history displays often show a strong bias towards male animals, particularly in large mammals. This pattern is largely a result of historical hunting practices, where males were preferentially targeted because of their larger size, more dramatic physical features, and symbolic associations with strength and dominance. Antlers, horns, tusks and manes were considered markers of success and prestige, making male specimens more desirable for display. As a result, museum collections assembled during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries frequently overrepresent adult males while females and juveniles are comparatively rare. This bias has important implications for how animals are visually and scientifically interpreted. Displays dominated by males can create a distorted impression of species biology, suggesting that male traits are the norm rather than one part of a broader spectrum of variation. Differences in size, behaviour and social roles between sexes may be overlooked, and important aspects of animal life such as reproduction, parental care and group structure can be underrepresented. In dioramas, this can subtly shape public understanding by emphasising competition, aggression and spectacle rather than cooperation, nurturing or ecological balance. Thankfully though, many museums are aware of this bias and are working to balance it where possible.
Gallery 3: Drama and Detail
Gallery 3 is dominated by one of the museum’s most dramatic displays: the taxidermied fight between a lion and a buffalo.
Lion and Buffalo
This one of the most dramatic and memorable dioramas in the entire collection. It depicts a moment of violent confrontation between a lion (Panthera leo) and an African buffalo, frozen in time at the peak of struggle. The animals are shown locked together, muscles tensed and bodies angled in opposing force, conveying both the power of the predator and the formidable strength of the prey. Unlike more static displays, this diorama captures movement, danger and unpredictability, immediately drawing the viewer into the intensity of life-and-death encounters in the wild. This is no abstract artistic construct: the lion in the scene is the very animal that attacked Powell-Cotton during his 1906 honeymoon expedition in Africa, nearly killing him. The buffalo is the type specimen of a subspecies named after Powell-Cotton himself, Bos brachyceros cottoni. Together they are frozen in an eternal struggle that speaks both to the drama of the natural world and the personal history of the museum’s founder. This display serves dual functions: it is a narrative nexus (a story of adventure and danger) and a teaching tool, showing predator–prey interaction, musculature under tension, and the physicality of life in the wild.
Additional Savannah Scene Diorama
Gallery 3 also contains a further diorama depicting a savannah landscape, which transports visitors on a remarkable and evocative journey to the vast, sun-drenched grasslands of Africa, where a complex web of wildlife interacts in a dynamic ecosystem. As one of the museum’s largest and most visually compelling dioramas, it reflects Powell-Cotton’s pioneering vision for natural history exhibits, emphasising realism, ecological context, and storytelling rather than mere trophy display (although there are still in the Museum as we’ve seen). This diorama not only showcases an array of iconic savannah species but also invites reflection on the relationships between these animals, the landscapes they inhabit, and the conservation challenges they face today. Educationally, the diorama serves as a three-dimensional textbook for visitors of all ages. It introduces concepts such as food webs, adaptation, social behaviour, and ecosystem dynamics in an engaging, accessible format. Everywhere you look, there is something new or another detail you missed before. The diorama is so densely packed that you could easily stare at it for hours. These specimens are extremely important for contemporary conservation. For example, the museum holds northern white rhino specimens (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) now reduced to only two living individuals (both female), providing historical context and anatomical reference for conservationists.
Gallery 4: Celebrating the Legacy of Diana and Tony (Antoinette) Powell-Cotton
This gallery stands as a tribute to the remarkable contributions of Diana and Tony Powell-Cotton, daughter and son-in-law of Percy Powell-Cotton, the museum’s founder. This gallery shifts the narrative from the pioneering expeditions and collections of the early 20th century to the sustained efforts of the next generation in exploring, documenting, and preserving wildlife and cultures, especially during a time when conservation and ethnography were evolving rapidly. The display not only highlights their own expeditions and collections but also illuminates their innovative approaches to research, photography, and conservation, cementing their legacy within the family tradition of natural history. One of Diana’s most important legacies was her pioneering use of film as a scientific and educational tool. At a time when motion picture technology was still developing, she produced some of the earliest wildlife documentaries filmed on location, capturing animal behaviour with an unprecedented degree of detail and authenticity. Her films include rare footage of elusive species such as the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) and chimpanzees, contributing to early visual knowledge of animal ecology and social dynamics. Gallery 4 showcases some of Diana’s original film equipment, personal journals, and still photographs alongside a selection of preserved specimens collected during her travels. These materials provide insight into her meticulous field methods, her dedication to scientific observation, and her efforts to balance collection with conservation ethics. The gallery also features her notes on local cultures and ecosystems, highlighting the intertwined nature of human and wildlife communities that she encountered. Through these displays, visitors gain a nuanced understanding of Diana’s role in expanding the museum’s scope beyond hunting trophies to encompass behavioural ecology and cultural context.
Together, Diana and Tony brought a holistic approach to exploration that recognised the importance of indigenous knowledge and cultural practices alongside biological research. Tony’s interests extended beyond specimen collection to the documentation of traditional ways of life, crafts, and oral histories in the regions they explored. The gallery presents a variety of ethnographic objects collected or documented by the couple, including traditional tools, clothing, and ritual items. These artifacts are displayed with interpretive materials that explain their cultural significance and the Powell-Cottons’ respectful engagement with local communities. This approach contrasts with earlier colonial collecting practices, highlighting a more collaborative and ethical methodology in anthropological work. In addition to their joint fieldwork, Tony was instrumental in developing the museum’s archival and research facilities, helping to catalogue collections and preserve records. His commitment to scholarship ensured that the museum remained not only a repository of objects but also a centre for ongoing study and education. Gallery 4 emphasises this legacy through displays of correspondence, field diaries, and early museum catalogues, illustrating how the Powell-Cottons combined practical field expertise with academic rigor.
Gallery 5: Material Culture from Northern and Eastern Africa
This gallery is a vibrant and culturally rich space dedicated to the material heritage of northern and eastern Africa. This gallery houses an extensive and diverse collection of artefacts that illuminate the artistry, traditions, and daily lives of peoples across a wide geographic area, from the Maghreb in the northwest of the continent to the coastal and inland regions of eastern Africa. The collection includes exquisite jewellery, finely crafted bronze works, and utilitarian tools, reflecting the remarkable diversity and depth of African cultures. These objects were gathered over decades by members of the Powell-Cotton family (Percy and Hannah Powell-Cotton and later their daughters Diana and Tony) whose field expeditions combined natural history collecting with ethnographic research.
The gallery’s material culture collections span a large and culturally complex region of Africa. The jewellery in the collection, displayed in the gallery, showcases intricate craftsmanship and symbolic design that reflect centuries of tradition and identity. These pieces often combine silver, coral, amber, and enamel, representing the artistic skills of local smiths and the cultural significance of adornment in social and ceremonial contexts. Moving eastwards, the gallery features objects from regions around the Horn of Africa, including Somalia and Kenya, where coastal communities have developed distinctive material cultures shaped by trade across the Indian Ocean and interactions between African, Arab, and South Asian influences. Among the most fascinating items in the gallery are the tools used by fishermen from the Bajuni Islands, a chain of small islands off the coast of Somalia. These implements (ranging from fishing nets and hooks to boats and navigation aids) highlight traditional livelihoods that have sustained communities for generations and illustrate the deep connection between people and the sea. In addition to these coastal and northern African artifacts, the gallery includes outstanding bronze works from the Kingdom of Benin, located in present-day southern Nigeria. The Benin bronzes, renowned worldwide for their artistic excellence and historical importance, are represented here by plaques, figures, and ceremonial objects.
Gallery 6: Handling Collection
This gallery is dedicated to one of the museum’s most unique and interactive resources: the handling collection. Unlike the traditional displays of taxidermied animals and carefully arranged dioramas found throughout the museum, this gallery offers visitors a tactile and hands-on experience with a wide variety of natural history specimens and artifacts. The handling collection serves as a vital educational tool, breaking down barriers between visitors and the natural world by encouraging direct contact, close observation, and personal engagement with objects that are often difficult to access in typical museum environments. The collection embodies a progressive museum philosophy that recognises the importance of experiential learning. While visual observation remains central to natural history museums, the Powell-Cotton Museum’s curators have long appreciated that touch and physical interaction can greatly enhance understanding, especially for younger audiences, tactile learners, and people with visual impairments. This gallery was designed to foster curiosity, invite questions, and deepen the sensory experience of learning about biodiversity, anatomy, and cultural heritage. This approach aligns with broader trends in museum education, which emphasise accessibility, inclusion, and active participation.
By allowing visitors to handle real specimens (ranging from bones and skulls to feathers, shells, and ethnographic objects) the gallery transforms passive viewing into a dynamic, multi-sensory encounter. This hands-on engagement encourages visitors to notice details that might be missed in distant displays, such as texture, weight, shape, and scale, thereby building a more intimate and memorable connection with the natural world. Moreover, the handling collection also serves an important role in breaking down the sometimes intimidating or formal atmosphere of museums. This fosters a more informal and welcoming space where questions and tactile exploration are encouraged. It supports educational programs, workshops, and outreach activities by providing a flexible resource that can be used by schools, families, and community groups. The collection is a living part of the museum’s mission to make natural history accessible and exciting for all.
Gallery 7: Asian Ceramics and History of Quex House
Gallery 7 is a distinctive and reflective space within the museum, combining two seemingly different themes into a single, cohesive gallery. The first half celebrates the beauty and craftsmanship of Chinese and Japanese ceramics, presenting finely made porcelain that was highly prized across the world for its delicacy, strength and aesthetic refinement. Chinese porcelain in particular became a global commodity due to the exceptional skill of its makers, who perfected techniques of glazing, firing and decoration over centuries. The gallery highlights how these objects were not only works of art but also symbols of international trade and cultural exchange, valued by collectors and travellers alike. The ceramics on display are closely connected to Percy Powell-Cotton’s own experiences of travel and collecting. During his world tour in the late nineteenth century, he visited both China and Japan, encountering artistic traditions very different from those of Europe. This gallery brings these journeys to life through personal accounts, diary excerpts and photographs drawn from the museum’s archive. These materials allow visitors to see the ceramics not just as decorative objects, but as souvenirs of exploration and curiosity, reflecting Powell-Cotton’s fascination with global cultures and his desire to document the places he visited.
The second half of the gallery turns its focus closer to home, exploring the history of Quex and the families who owned and shaped the estate over time. Through text, images and objects, visitors can learn how successive generations altered the house, gardens and surrounding landscape, leaving traces that remain visible today. This section places the museum within its local historical context, showing how Quex evolved from a private estate into a public museum. By combining global stories of travel and trade with the personal history of Quex itself, this gallery neatly links the wider world to the place in which the collections are now housed.
Unfortunately, during my visit Gallery 8 was closed for renovations. However, let’s take this time to build on what I’ve just summarised for you. The museum also houses a research collection of primate skeletons and flat skins, although many are not on public display, highlighting the scientific depth behind the dioramas. Beyond physical specimens, Powell-Cotton’s detailed field notes, photographs and expedition records accompany much of the collection. These data enhance the specimens’ research value, providing location, date, behaviour and ecological context, something few collections of that era can match at such scale. Some specimens represent taxa that have since become critically endangered or functionally extinct in the wild. Other subspecies first described (or ‘discovered’) during Powell-Cotton’s expeditions, such as a black-fur honey badger (Mellivora capensis cottoni) and an Angolan colobus monkey (Colobus angolensis cottoni) named in his honour, add historical depth to the collection’s scientific legacy.
Although Powell-Cotton’s collecting methods (notably big-game hunting) are out of step with modern conservation ethics, the collection now serves conservation science. For instance, researchers have extracted DNA from Powell-Cotton specimens to assist genetic studies, including for species where wild populations are precarious. The museum’s displays now also contextualise conservation status, helping visitors understand how human impacts have altered animal populations since Powell-Cotton’s time. Recent interpretative work has sought to tell a more complete story, one that acknowledges the cultural and colonial contexts of the collecting expeditions, the contributions of local assistants, and the broader environmental histories of the regions represented. This includes new informational panels and narrative framing around the dioramas and specimens. By combining historical context with ecological insight, the museum encourages visitors to think critically about both the natural world and the historical moment when these collections were assembled.
The animal specimens and dioramas at the Powell-Cotton Museum are more than just historical curiosities. They are cultural artefacts, scientific resources and educational tools that have stood the test of time. Through meticulous craftsmanship, scientific documentation and innovative exhibition design, Powell-Cotton created immersive displays that conveyed the diversity and complexity of the natural world long before global travel or nature documentaries were commonplace for the public. Atlas Obscura Today, these dioramas continue to captivate, educate and provoke thoughtful engagement with the past and present of biodiversity, conservation and museum practice. Whether viewed through a lens of natural history, colonial history, or the evolution of museum display techniques, they remain among the most significant and evocative specimen displays in the United Kingdom and beyond. It is a collection that I one day hope to work with, so watch this space!
So now you’ve read that, I suspect that you’ll want to visit! The Powell-Cotton Museum, is located in Quex Park near Birchington in Kent, and as you have probably seen, is a unique natural history and ethnographic museum renowned for its extensive collections of African and Asian wildlife specimens. For me, it is the immersive dioramas that really set it apart from anywhere else I have been. Visitors can explore a fascinating blend of taxidermy, ethnographic objects, and historical displays that span centuries of exploration by the Powell-Cotton family. The museum is easily accessible by car and public transport, with nearby train stations and clear signage from major roads. Entry prices are generally affordable, with adult tickets typically costing £7.50, with concessions and children offered reduced rates, and family tickets available. However, it’s best to check the museum’s official website for the most up-to-date pricing and opening hours (as they have reduced opening days during the winter). To fully appreciate the breadth of the museum’s galleries, including the detailed dioramas and handling collections, visitors should allow at least two to three hours, with more time needed for those who wish to engage deeply with the exhibitions or participate in guided tours and educational programs.
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