Exhibition of giant prehistoric animals makes UK debut at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Image © Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

• GIANTS exhibition opens on Saturday 2 August 2025
• It features life-sized 3D models and skeletons
• Exclusive after-hours access with object handling and meet the expert talks on 20 September.

An immersive exhibition of giant prehistoric animals makes its UK debut at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on 2 August 2025.

GIANTS is a spectacular touring exhibition developed by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and toured by Nomad Exhibitions.

It invites visitors on a journey through time, from 66 million years ago to the present day, to encounter the awe-inspiring creatures that roamed the Earth after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The exhibition features life-sized 3D models and skeletons, including the formidable Otodus megalodon, the mightiest shark of all time, the Mammuthus primigenius or woolly mammoth, weighing in at between six and eight tons with long thick fur and imposing tusks and Gigantopithecus blacki, an Asian primate comparable in size to three orangutans.

Interactive elements allow visitors of all ages to step into the shoes of palaeontologists and biologists, engaging with the scientific processes behind fossil discovery and reconstruction.

This family-friendly exhibition runs from Saturday 2 August until Sunday 2 November 2025, Wednesday to Sunday from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm, in the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

Visitors aged 18 and over can also experience exclusive after-hours access to the exhibition on Saturday 20 September from 6.00 pm to 9.00 pm.

This one-off late opening will include object-handling of specimens from the museum’s collection and ‘meet the expert’ talks by the museum’s natural science curator and Dr Jack Cooper, palaeobiologist and shark expert.

There will also be spotlight tours of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s iconic Round Room and Industrial Gallery and the opportunity to enjoy a limited edition craft beer from the Birmingham Brewing Company in the Tearoom bar.

Tickets for the late opening of GIANTS must be booked in advance via the Birmingham Museums website.

General admission tickets to the exhibition can also be pre-booked online or bought on arrival, subject to availability.

Zak Mensah and Sara Wajid, co-chief executives of Birmingham Museums Trust, said:

“We are delighted to welcome the GIANTS exhibition to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery for its UK debut.

“This inspiring installation not only captures the imagination about the creatures of the past with its monumental scale but also delivers a vital message about sustainability and our shared responsibility to protect the planet for the future.

“Birmingham Museums is committed to using storytelling to engage communities with the challenges of our time and GIANTS does exactly that in a powerful and accessible way.”