Museums used to be centres of curiosity rather than the erudite institutions we are familiar with today. It was under this ethos that the British Museum found itself the owner of an 18th-century ‘merman’. A donation from Prince Arthur of Connaught, the grandson of Queen Victoria, this tiny specimen was said to have been plucked out of the Japanese sea. Is this proof that these mythical aquatic creatures really exist? Alas, it is only a stitched together chimera of a monkey head and torso, a fish body and various other bits. Visit the Enlightenment Gallery, filled with old-fashioned wooden display cases, to see more curious collectibles. Entry is free.
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