Opening Hours
We are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, and free to visit!
We are closed on weekends, Bank Holidays, and during University closures.
We may be closed for teaching during term time, any changes to our regular opening hours will be listed here.
Don’t forget that group visits must be booked in advance!
The Cole Museum is centred at the heart of a working University building, and we must ask our visitors to be considerate of our staff and researchers working on the upper floors by keeping noise levels to a minimum.
Think of us as a quiet space, like a library.
About the museum
The Cole Museum of Zoology is owned and managed by the University of Reading.
It was established by Professor Francis Cole in 1906 when the University was known as University College Reading. The Cole Museum of Zoology represents a snapshot of animal diversity in the early 20th century and has always been used to teach zoology and comparative anatomy. The Museum is home to thousands of specimens of great zoological significance, including taxidermy, skeletons, histological preparations, fluid-preserved dissections, fossil material, casts, and some superb models of developmental stages and extinct animals.
