This amazing timelapse video shows the painstaking process of assembling Dippy the dinosaur for its visit to Rochdale.
The skeleton cast of the 27m long diplodocus skeleton, which is made up of 292 bones, was unveiled in Number One Riverside on Monday.
Rochdale is the exhibit's only stop in the North West during its much-anticipated UK tour.
The dinosaur left the Natural History Museum in London for the first time in 2018.
The first visitors were pupils from Healey Primary school in Rochdale after year five pupil Sophie Roberts, nine, won a competition to place the last toe bone on the cast with the Natural History Museum’s head of conservation, Lorraine Cornish.
Sophie, who brought her class along for the celebration, secured the coveted slot after creating her very own dinosaur, the Giraffosaurus, out of recyclable materials.
She said: "We are so excited, as it means we are the first people to see Dippy in Rochdale."
Mayor of Rochdale Billy Sheerin said it was an 'honour' for the town to host the exhibit.
He added: "It’s just amazing and it’s in an amazing place.
"Inside a library, inside a community centre, a place for working and living, not a museum, this is a real space that goes on in real life.
"Dippy is in amongst us all, which makes it even more special."
Education Officer for Dippy, Helen Seymour, said: "It’s what we’ve been working for the past 18 months.
"It doesn’t matter how old anybody is - they’re really excited about dinosaurs.
"In a way the hard work starts now because we’ve got to make it really exciting.
"When Dippy goes, which will be very sad, we need to make sure we have got a legacy of people wanting to come to Rochdale and have fun."
Dippy is one of 10 replicas of the original skeleton, found by railroad workers in Wyoming, USA, in 1898.
They were commissioned by King Edward VII and sent to museums in cities around the world, including Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Moscow.
The skeleton was on display at the Natural History Museum for over 100 years.
Dippy will be in Rochdale until June 28.
