The Jurassic Coast boasts 185 million years of geological history

The Jurassic Coast Gallery, which is centred around a geology collection at the Dorset County Museum, took two years to create.

Computer-animated dinosaur models and interactive displays tell visitors the story of how the 95 miles of coastline was formed.

The gallery was funded by a �335,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

Visitors can experience a journey through a period of about two hundred million years as they learn about the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

'More interactive'

Part of the visual collection consists of more than 2,000 images electronically stitched together.

People visiting the gallery are greeted by two life-sized pterosaurs.

Judy Lindsay, curator at the Dorset County Museum, says: "We're really the only place along the Jurassic Coast that tells the whole story, all the way from Devon to East Dorset.

"We've got an amazing collection of fossils here and in the old gallery all those fossils were out on display, but there wasn't really a lot that told the story and in this gallery we've tried to make it much more interactive."