Myths & Monsters
Stories of strange and mysterious creatures have been told for centuries fascinating children and adults alike.
Are they just make believe or do these legends really exist?
Discover the truth in Myths & Monsters!
Is there a monster in Loch Ness?
Could a knight have slain a fire-breathing dragon?
Are we visited by little green men from outer space?
In ancient times, the distinction between myth and reality was often blurred and so legends of strange beasts living on Earth have become embedded in cultures far and wide.
Encounter a life-sized dragon, stare a Yeti in the face and meet an alien as amazing robotic models bring some of the world’s most mysterious creatures to Life!
Explore the tales behind each creature, how they came to be, the myths surrounding them and their possible origins in the natural world
Myths and Monsters will unravel the fact from fantasy.
Monsters featured in the exhibition include:
Dragon
The most mythical of beasts, the dragon, has two personalities: the benign dragon of the east and the evil incarnation of the devil from the west. But what provoked ancient peoples to believe they existed?
Unicorn
The legendary unicorn is a magical creature whose single horn was believed to have powerful healing properties. The reality is stranger than the fiction when we discover the real origins of the unicorn’s horn.
Chimera
The chimera in Greek mythology was an awesome monster with a head and body of a lion, the head of a she-goat and a serpent’s head in place of a tail. Modern day chimeras from the realms of genetic science are just as thought provoking.
Cyclops
Could anything be more terrifying than a giant whose facial symmetry is distorted by a huge single eye? The scientific origin of the Cyclops is truly fascinating.
Wild-men
The yeti is perhaps the most likely of all mythical creatures to exist. Reports of huge primate creatures abound in many of the most remote and mountainous parts of the world - could some of them be real?
Alien
The scope of our imagination is at its greatest when we are faced with the realms of the unknown – nowhere more so than in outer space. The final model in the exhibition points enigmatically at the visitor, leaving them with a question - will it ever be possible to unravel fact from fiction in the unknown reaches of our universe and beyond?
