A FORMER front of house manager at one of Oxford's most popular museums has criticised plans to replace historic display cases.

The wooden cabinets in Oxford University Museum of Natural History are set to be replace by glass cabinets after the University said they could no longer protect the exhibits from pests.

But Anthony Archer, who worked at the museum for 12 years, said this was just an 'excuse' and that bosses were abandoning its history in favour of visitor numbers.

Mr Archer said: "The interior of the museum is a fine example of Victorian architecture along with the exhibits held within the cases.

He added: "It's about number of visitors for funding in the museum and not the preservation of its interior."

The former head porter said he took history groups on behind the scenes tours of the museum for 12 years before becoming its front of house manager.

He added that the museum's education team would only benefit from 'the past being left as the past'.

The cases house a large proportion of the museum’s millions of specimens, which includes dinosaur vertebrates, fossils, and the most complete remains of a dodo in the world.

The entire collection is valued at approximately £7m and more 750,000 people visit annually.

In a 13-page document justifying the cabinet replacements, the University said: "This will ensure that the museum and its collections can be displayed in the best way possible for visitors, that the historically important and rare objects inside the cabinets will not be at risk of pest or environmental damage, and that staff will be able to operate the cabinets safely and securely for many years to come.”