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![]() The Discovery Museum in 2018 | |
Established | 1934 |
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Location | Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
Coordinates | 54°58′08″N1°37′30″W / 54.969°N 1.625°W |
Public transit access | Newcastle Central Station |
Website | Official website |
The Discovery Museum is a science museum and local history museum situated in Blandford Square in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It displays many exhibits of local history, including the ship, Turbinia . It is managed by North East Museums. [1]
The Discovery Museum started life in 1934 as the Municipal Museum of Science and Industry. [2] The collections were housed in a temporary pavilion built for the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition in Exhibition Park, Newcastle. [3]
The collections and displays grew for another forty years, until the temporary pavilion could no longer meet the museum's needs. In 1978, the museum was re-located to Blandford House, the former Co-operative Wholesale Society Headquarters for the Northern Region. [4] Designed by Oliver, Leeson & Wood in 1899, the building had been the distribution centre for over 100 Co-op stores across the region, and contained extensive warehouse space and offices. [5]
The museum was re-launched as Discovery Museum in 1993 at which time the Turbinia was moved from Exhibition Park. [2] In 2004 the £13 million redevelopment of the museum was complete [2] and the following year the venue attracted 450,000 visitors. [6]
The museum includes Turbinia , the 104 feet 9 inches (31.93 m) ship built by Charles Algernon Parsons to test the advantages of using the steam turbine to power ships, which could go up to 34 knots (39 mph; 63 km/h). [7] [8] It houses the regimental museum for the Light Dragoons (and its antecedent regiments) and the Northumberland Hussars, exploring the human side of 200 years of life in the army. It is a "hands-on" museum designed to interest both children and adults. [9] It also features examples of Joseph Swan's early lightbulbs which were invented on Tyneside. [10]