The Blue Whale skeleton was on display in the Canterbury Museum's Garden Court from 1976 to 1994.

It's been in hiding for 22 years, but the longest blue whale skeleton in any collection in the world is ready for its big moment.

The 26.5 metre long blue whale skeleton has been in the Canterbury Museum collection since it arrived in Christchurch on a horse and cart in 1908, but the bones slipped from public view in 1994.

There is no space in the museum large enough to display the bones, but they will be the star of a planned future upgrade for the complex of historic buildings.

CANTERBURY MUSEUM/SUPPLIED The Blue Whale was 26.5 metres long when it washed ashore in 1908.

Almost 200 bones have been in storage since the Garden Court – where they were displayed from 1976 – was covered over when the museum expanded in 1994. The bones were carefully restored over four or five years from 2003.

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CANTERBURY MUSEUM/SUPPLIED The whale bones arrive at the Canterbury Museum on a horse and cart in 1908.

The whale has been dead for more than a hundred years and was born two hundred years ago, but the bones still exude oil and retain a distinctive smell. The whale's lower mandible bone is the largest single natural history object in the world, weighing 418 kilograms.

Canterbury Museum's senior natural history curator, Paul Scofield​, said he was keen to get the blue whale back on display.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Canterbury Museum senior curator of natural history Paul Scofield with the blue whale skeleton.

"It's a bit frustrating. It is definitely something that lots of Cantabrians remember and ask us about," he said.

"It's an iconic object and something we can be proud of."

He said the whale would be prominently displayed in the entrance to any upgraded museum.

CANTERBURY MUSEUM/SUPPLIED Workers peering over the rotting whale carcass near Okarito on the West Coast in 1908.

"The whale will be the first thing you see when you enter the museum. It will be right there in your face."

When the whale skeleton was displayed in the open air courtyard, sparrows nested in the six-metre wide skull for over 50 years. Bird excrement had to be cleared from the skull when the bones were restored.

The blue whale first washed ashore just north of Okarito on the West Coast of the South Island in February 1908. The dead whale caught the attention of Canterbury Museum Curator Edgar Waite because of its unusually large size.

CANTERBURY MUSEUM/SUPPLIED A team of people spent four weeks recovering the blue whale skeleton on an Okarito beach.

A few months later, Waite and a small team began the laborious and unpleasant task of stripping the flesh and blubber from the rotting whale to recover the skeleton.

Plagued by sandflies and struggling with the overpowering stench of the rotting whale, the team spent four weeks recovering and cleaning the 8.9 tonnes of bones.

Waite said the stench could be detected some distance from the whale corpse.

CANTERBURY MUSEUM/SUPPLIED A drawing of how the Blue Whale skeleton may be displayed as part of upgrade plans for the Canterbury Museum.

"And it smelt. How it smelt! It smelt as if forty thousand freezing and soap works were holding a reception, with sewerage systems for guests," Waite wrote in 1908.

The bones were taken from Okarito beach by ferry, then shipped to Lyttelton Port and taken by horse and cart for the final part of the journey to Canterbury Museum.

The Canterbury Museum is negotiating over its insurance settlement for earthquake damage, but is in the early stages of planning an upgrade for the buildings.