Priceless exhibits fry under a clean glass roof

Museum specimens suffering ‘rapid’ damage

When Oxford University unveiled the results of a £2 million (Dh9.6 million) project to restore the dilapidated glass roof of the city’s Natural History Museum, the curators claimed they had secured the future of the magnificent Victorian institution for generations to come.

But now university authorities have been forced back to the drawing board, after admitting that removing 150 years of dirt from the glass tiles that line the building’s roof has let in so much sunlight that the museum’s priceless specimens are suffering “rapid and irreversible” damage.

Documents lodged with the local council show that the roof works, which were completed barely two years ago, have led to 40 degrees Celsius temperatures, low humidity and high levels of ultraviolet light. Pictures submitted by the museum show how the skins of stuffed animals have cracked and faded, while curators have warned that a set of important whale skeletons could be ruined.