Return of the Orca

Orca leaving for Falmouth, the skeleton is secured in a wooden frame which sits outside the Booth Museum ready for transportation — Orca leaving for Falmouth

The largest object in Brighton Museum’s natural science collections has recently returned from exhibition in Cornwall and Kent.

The 5.4 M (18 Ft.) Orca skeleton that hangs in our Osteology gallery was borrowed for display at the Nationl Maritime Museum Falmouth, for their Monsters of the Deep exhibition. This loan along with several other marine or maritime related objects were borrowed in November 2019 for installation in time for a March 2020 opening. Unfortunately, the pandemic meant that the exhibition didn’t open until summer 2020. However, it was extended in its loan until Jan 2023, and was a critically and publicly popular exhibition.

The Orca on display in The Monsters of the Deep exhibition

During this original run at Falmouth, it was suggested that the exhibition toured to Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent. This was agreed by us, and so the loan was extended by a year, and the objects were installed ready for the opening of the exhibition in April 2023. This being much closer and outside of pandemic restrictions allowed us to visit the specimens in situ too – a very impressive exhibition!

The Monsters of the Deep exhibition finally closed in November 2023, and the Orca and other objects were returned in December. Smaller objects came back first, and the whale was moved in by a team of conservation and curatorial staff.