The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History

#74

Part cocktail bar, part cabinet of wonders in Hackney. Upstairs: absinthe and oddities; downstairs: a dense, dim grotto of taxidermy, shells, bones, erotica, folklore and pop-culture fragments. Labels skew laconic; the pleasure is in gawping, then noticing patterns—Victorian collecting habits, tabloid myth, memento mori. It’s intimate (and delightfully weird). Allow 30–60 minutes, plus a drink.

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Opening Hours

Sunday: 12:00 – 22:00

Tuesday: 15:00 – 23:00

Wednesday: 15:00 – 23:00

Thursday: 15:00 – 23:00

Friday: 15:00 – 00:00

Saturday: 12:00 – 00:00

What's not to miss inside?

Descent to the Grotto

Atmosphere as exhibit

Low ceilings, crimson walls and jam-packed vitrines recreate the 19th-century ‘wonder room’ in miniature.

Pick a single case and inventory it aloud; the curatorial logic starts to emerge.

📍 Basement museum

Taxidermy & Nature

Beauty, mortality, display

Butterflies, birds and beasts meet cabinets of shells and minerals in lush, theatrical arrangements.

Find one imperfect specimen; flaws are clues to age and method.

📍 Basement cases

Bar & Absinthe

Aperitif to the uncanny

Short, eccentric cocktail list ties the upstairs mood to the museum’s dream logic.

Order something you’ve never tried; read the room while you sip.

📍 Ground floor

🤓 Fun Facts

Run by the Last Tuesday Society, the museum began as a private collection turned public curiosity cabinet—more salon than state museum by design.

Displays deliberately mingle high and low—fine art prints might sit beside seaside oddments—to parody Victorian taxonomies and Instagram-age collecting alike.

Entry can be cheaper if you pre-book a cocktail table—because here, hospitality is part of the museology.