About us
Opened in 1901, the Horniman was designed in the Arts and Crafts style. It was founded by Frederick Horniman, who had inherited his father's tea business, which by 1891 had become the world's biggest tea trading company. It specialises in anthropology, natural history and musical instruments and has a collection of 350,000 objects.
We are the Horniman Museum and Gardens, an inspiring, surprising, family-friendly, free attraction in South London’s Forest Hill.
We’ve been open since Victorian times, when Frederick John Horniman first opened his house and extraordinary collection of objects to visitors. Since then, our collection has grown tenfold and includes internationally important collections of anthropology and musical instruments, as well as an acclaimed aquarium and natural history collection.
Unusually for such an important museum, you can see our collection up-close and face-to-face. You can even pick up, try on and play with some of our objects.
Our visitors come time and again to explore our free museum, take part in our activities and enjoy our 16-acre gardens. And they discover something fascinating and mesmerising every time.