In 1986, the museum absorbed the adjacent Geological Museum of the British Geological Survey, which is to just to the north of the NHM. The museum's galleries were completely rebuilt and relaunched in 1996 as "The Earth Galleries", with the exhibitions in the Waterhouse building retitled "The Life Galleries". The Natural History Museum's own Mineralogy displays remain largely unchanged as an example of the 19th-century display techniques of the Waterhouse building.