Darwin exhibition to open doors

Monday 9th February 2009, 11:54AM GMT.

The great, great grandaughter of Charles Darwin, botanist Sarah Darwin, in his study at Down House, Kent

The great, great grandaughter of Charles Darwin, botanist Sarah Darwin, in his study at Down House, Kent

Original manuscript material and personal items belonging to Charles Darwin will go on public display this week to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth.

The exhibition, which will open on Friday, will be held at Down House, near Orpington in Kent, where Darwin lived and worked for 40 years after leaving Shrewsbury, where he was born.

Among the items of interest in the permanent display of the scientist’s life and work are notebooks written by Darwin during his epic voyage on HMS Beagle.

Organised by English Heritage, the new exhibition also coincides with the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s famous work On the Origin of Species written at Down House.

Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, English Heritage’s chairman, said: “This new £1 million exhibition brings the man and his family, his painstaking research and his ground-breaking theories to life.”

Visitors will be able to opt for a multi-media tour of the property and its interactive displays narrated by Sir David Attenborough and Andrew Marr. They will also be able to see pages from the manuscript of On the Origin of Species, of which only 43 pages are known to survive, and view a first edition of the book.

View more: Charles Darwin news.