 | |
  Location within North Yorkshire | |
| Established | 1830 |
|---|---|
| Location | Museum Gardens, York, England |
| Coordinates | 53°57′42″N1°05′15″W / 53.9618°N 1.0875°W |
| Type | Archaeological and Natural Sciences Museum |
| Visitors | 163,805 (2018–19) [1] |
| Director | Reyahn King, York Museums Trust |
| Website | yorkshiremuseum.org.uk |
The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy.
The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) to accommodate their geological and archaeological collections, and was originally housed in Ousegate, York, until the site became too small. In 1828, the society received by royal grant, 10 acres (0.040 km2) of land formerly belonging to St Mary's Abbey for the purposes of building a new museum. The main building of the museum is called the Yorkshire Museum; it was designed by William Wilkins in a Greek Revival style and is a Grade I listed building. It was officially opened in February 1830, which makes it one of the longest established museums in England. A condition of the royal grant was that the land surrounding the museum building should be a botanic gardens and one was created in the 1830s. The botanic gardens are now known as the Museum Gardens. On 26 September 1831, the inaugural meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was held at the Yorkshire Museum. [2]
The Tempest Anderson Hall was built in 1912, as an annex to the museum, and is an early example of a reinforced concrete building. It is used as a conference venue and lecture theatre.
The Royal Archaeological Institute held its summer meeting of 1934 at the museum where it hosted the archaeological congress from 7 July to 17 July. [3]
The museum was narrowly missed by a bomb during the Baedeker Blitz on 29 April 1942, though the explosion caused damage to the roof and the windows. The curator, Reginald Wagstaffe, lived in Manor Cottage (a building adjacent to the museum) and was responsible for the subsequent clean-up effort of the debris, during which 'seven large bath-tubs' of broken glass and geological specimens were thrown away. [4]
In light of financial issues from 1956 onwards, the YPS transferred the Yorkshire Museum and Museum Gardens to 'the citizens of York' on 2 January 1961. A plaque on the front of the Yorkshire Museum records this event. [5] The York Corporation (now City of York Council) operated the museum from 1961 to 1974 when municipal boundary changes resulted in the creation of North Yorkshire County Council, to whom the museum transferred. [6] It was returned to the City of York Council in 1996. The City of York Council set up the York Museums Trust in 2002, to manage the York Castle Museum, York Art Gallery, the Yorkshire Museum and the Museum Gardens. [7] [8]
The museum closed in November 2009 for a major refurbishment and reopened on Yorkshire Day on 1 August 2010. The £2 million scheme was largely carried out by the museum's own staff, who restructured and redecorated the interior of the building. [9]
As of 2018, [update] the museum has the following permanent exhibits: "Roman York – Meet the People of the Empire", "Medieval York: Capital of the North", "Yorkshire's Jurassic World", "After the Ice: Yorkshire's Prehistoric People", and "William Smith: The Map That Changed The World", referring to the world's first full geological map of a country. [10]
During the COVID-19 pandemic the museum, along with the other York Museums Trust sites, closed to the public on 23 March 2020. [11] The museum remained closed a year later, but on 28 March 2021 it announced that it had received a £18,000 'Lifeline grant' from the Culture Recovery Fund for repairs to the building façade and roof. [12] On 7 May 2021 it announced its reopening on 9 July 2021 with an exhibition featuring a celebrated portrait of King Richard III from the National Portrait Gallery. [13] This exhibition, and the site, closed on 31 October 2021 for the winter period in order to save resources and undertake building repairs. [14] In February it announced that it would reopen on 8 April 2022 with a new exhibition featuring the Ryedale Roman Hoard. [15]
The museum has had many keepers, curators and honorary curators over its lifetime. The first keeper was John Phillips.
The four permanent collections at the museum all have English designated collection status, which means they are "pre-eminent collections of national and international importance". [16] The collection began in the 1820s, with the collection of animal bones and fossils from Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire. [17]
The biology collection contains 200,000 specimens, including both fauna and flora, with the majority of the collection made up of insects. There are two specimens of the extinct great auk, [18] an almost complete skeleton of an extinct moa, passenger pigeons, [19] and a large collection of Quaternary (c.125,000 years ago) specimens from the Yorkshire region including the remains of elephants, cave bears and hyena from Kirkdale Cave. [20] In 1866–7, the museum was one of the three recipients of Dodo bones discovered by Harry Higginson. [21]
The geology collection contains over 112,500 specimens of rocks, minerals and fossils. Fossils make up the majority of the collection numbering over 100,000 samples, and include important specimens from the Carboniferous, Mesozoic and Tertiary periods.
The astronomy collection is mainly kept in the observatory in the museum gardens with some telescopes kept at the Castle Museum in York. [22] The observatory is staffed by volunteers. [23]
The archaeology collection has close to a million objects that date from around 500,000 BC to the 20th century. Most of the objects from the Roman, Anglo-Scandinavian and medieval periods are from the York and Yorkshire area.
The museum has 'Finds Days' in the main Yorkshire Museum building where members of the national British Portable Antiquities Scheme and museum staff will identify objects brought to them by members of the public. The information is also recorded to help build up a more complete archaeological picture of the past. [37]
A monthly lecture series by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society is held in the museum's lecture theatre. [38]
The museum and the Museum Gardens first hosted the Eboracum Roman Festival in 2016. [39] It has since become an annual event. [40] [41] [42]
During the COVID-19 pandemic the museum was closed. It hosted a series of weekly competitions on social media to engage with other museums in order to find the best object of a given topic, titled the 'Curator battle'. Themes included searches to find the 'creepiest object' and the 'sassiest object' in museum collections worldwide. [43] [44] The 'creepiest object' category was featured in an episode of Have I Got News For You . [45] The museum won a PRCA 'Just Marketing Award' in January 2021 for the '#CuratorBattle' twitter campaign in the category of 'Best performance during COVID-19'. [46] Analysis by York Museums Trust of this social event concluded that more than 6.2 million people saw YMT collections online due to the campaign. [47]
The museum has hosted many exhibitions since its inception.
In 1954 temporary exhibitions were held on photographs of the royal tombs at Westminster and York silver. [48]
The 1976 exhibition "The Viking Kingdom of York" was seen by over 78,000 visitors. [4]
The Coppergate helmet was first put onto display in a permanent gallery space in 1980 following a £30,000 grant from the British Museum as part of the "International Viking Exhibition". [4]
A third successful Viking exhibition, "The Vikings in England" was opened by the Prince of Wales on 30 March 1982 and was seen by over 235,000 visitors before it closed in October of the same year. This exhibition was awarded the European Museum of the Year Special Exhibition Award as a result of the presentation of the exhibition in the museum and for additional educational projects organised by the then Keeper Elizabeth Hartley. [4]
The 1984 exhibition "A New Look at the Dinosaurs" was opened by David Bellamy and was seen by over 320,000 visitors. [49] It was described in a review in New Scientist as "the best thing on dinosaurs you are ever likely to see". [50]
The 1985 exhibition "Disappearing Forest Wildlife" was opened on 22 May 1985, again by David Bellamy. It featured a replica jungle setting and a vivarium containing live spiders, snakes and scorpions. [51]
A 2001 exhibition, held between 6 April and 26 September, was titled "Alcuin & Charlemagne: The Golden Age of York". [52] It was the final one in a series of exhibitions throughout Europe titled "Charlemagne: The Making of Europe", with other venues in Paderborn, Barcelona, Brescia, and Split. [53]
In 2002 temporary exhibitions included "Walking with Dinosaurs", "Slime" (a touring exhibition from Leeds Museums & Galleries), and "Blaschka - The Glass Aquarium" featuring the Blaschka glass sea-creatures. [54]
In 2004, "Dust off the Dodo" featured collections from across the three York Museums Trust sites for the first time following its formation in 2002. It featured the Higginson Dodo, photographs by Tempest Anderson, and collections relating to Dick Turpin. [55]
The 2006 exhibition Constantine the Great: York's Roman Emperor was described as "the most important archaeological-historical loan exhibition to have been held in a provincial British museum". [56] It attracted over 58,000 visitors. [57]
The museum closed in November 2009 for a major refurbishment and reopened on Yorkshire Day on 1 August 2010. [9] Following the 2010 refit of the museum, the first gallery displayed parts of the Roman collection, focusing on objects from Eboracum (Roman York). A statue of the Roman god Mars was prominently displayed, and there is an interactive display describing the lives of some of the Romans whose remains have been found in York. [58] The final record of the famous lost Roman legion, the Ninth Legion, is on display as part of the Roman gallery. The stone inscription, which has been dated to Trajan's twelfth year as emperor, between 10 December 107 and 9 December 108, commemorates the legion's rebuilding in stone of the south-eastern wall of Eboracum's legionary fortress. [59] The BBC reports that "Experts have described it the finest example of Romano British inscription in existence". [59]
The facial reconstruction of King Richard III was displayed in the museum from July–October 2013 as part of a national tour. [60]
A Shakespearean First Folio was on display in the Medieval gallery in 2014. [61]
In 2015 the museum first displayed the oldest Sauropod fossil from the Yorkshire coast, nicknamed 'Alan the Dinosaur'. [62]
In 2016 a recently discovered, unique Mesolithic pendant from Star Carr first went on public display. [63]
In 2017 the museum hosted the first stage of a touring exhibition titled 'Viking: Rediscover the Legend', opened by Alice Roberts. [64] The exhibition was co-curated by the British Museum and subsequently travelled to the Atkinson Art Gallery and Library in Southport, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Norwich Castle Museum, and the University of Nottingham. [65] [66] The exhibition was awarded the 'Excellence in Media Arts' award at the 2017 York Culture Awards. [67]
In April 2018, Yorkshire's Jurassic World exhibition, including marine and land fossils from Yorkshire and elsewhere, was opened by David Attenborough. [68] [69] The exhibition, like the Viking exhibition the previous year, was also awarded the 'Excellence in Media Arts' awards at the 2018 York Culture Awards. [70]
On 21 September 2019 the St Mary's Abbey Figurine first went on public display. It is a medieval gilt-copper alloy, Limoges enamel figurine found in St Mary's Abbey, York in 1826 and acquired in 2019 from a purchase at auction. [71] [72] During this update to the exhibition, the Fulford ring was first put on display. [73]
In November 2019, the museum announced that a portrait of King Richard III would be on loan from the National Portrait Gallery in summer 2020. The exhibition was funded by a grant of £17,625 from the Weston Loan Programme and Art Fund. [74] The opening of this exhibition was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It opened to the public on 9 July 2021. [13] The exhibition and the museum closed on 31 October 2021 for the winter season. [75]
The museum reopened on 8 April 2023 featuring a new exhibition focussing on the Ryedale Hoard titled "The Ryedale Hoard: A Roman Mystery". [76] [77]
A family-friendly exhibition titled "Mary Anning Rocks!" opened on 14 July 2023 featuring the maquette of the Statue of Mary Anning. [78]
In February 2024 the museum announced an upcoming exhibition about the Mesolithic site of Star Carr titled "Star Carr: Life after the ice" opening on 22 March 2024. The exhibition is collaboration with the University of York and features objects from excavations that have never been publicly display before, such as the world's oldest hunting bow. [79]
In March 2012 two Stone Age hand axes were stolen from a public handling display in the museum. [80] They were returned to the museum in June 2012 after a private dealer who had purchased the objects came forwards to the police. [81]
A series of reportedly paranormal events were recorded in the museum in the winter of 1953 and the early months of 1954. In a 1958 report of the events, the museum's caretaker George Jonas reported to have seen the ghost of a man in Edwardian dress entering the museum's library and that a book repeatedly drew itself from its shelf and fell to the floor on several occasions. A disagreement between the curator George Willmot and the head of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, H. E. Harrowell, over the scepticism of the latter led to the resignation of Mr. Willmot. The phenomenon of the falling book was reportedly witnessed several times, always on a Sunday evening. On 27 January 1954, eight people entered the museum library to witness the event and signed witness statements recounting their experiences; these included a feeling of cold around the legs, the book removing itself from the shelf, and the leaves of the book still moving whilst it was on the floor. [82] [83]
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford in 1677. It is also the world's second university museum, after the establishment of the Kunstmuseum Basel in 1661 by the University of Basel.
Eboracum was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Western Roman Empire and ultimately developed into the present-day city of York, in North Yorkshire, England.
The York Museum Gardens are botanic gardens in the centre of York, England, beside the River Ouse. They cover an area of 10 acres (4.0 ha) of the former grounds of St Mary's Abbey, and were created in the 1830s by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society along with the Yorkshire Museum which they contain.
Leeds City Museum, originally established in 1819, reopened in 2008 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Cookridge Street. It is one of nine sites in the Leeds Museums & Galleries group.
The Vale of York Hoard, also known as the Harrogate Hoard and the Vale of York Viking Hoard, is a 10th-century Viking hoard of 617 silver coins and 65 other items. It was found undisturbed in 2007 near the town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. The hoard was the largest Viking one discovered in Britain since 1840, when the Cuerdale hoard was found in Lancashire, though the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard, found in 2009, is larger.
The York Castle Museum is a museum located in York, North Yorkshire, England, on the site of York Castle, which was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068. The museum itself was founded by John L. Kirk in 1938, and is housed in prison buildings which were built on the site of the castle in the 18th century, the debtors' prison and the female prison.
The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found. It consists of almost 4,600 items and metal fragments, amounting to a total of 5.1 kg (11 lb) of gold, 1.4 kg (3 lb) of silver and some 3,500 pieces of garnet cloisonné jewellery. It is described by the historian Cat Jarman as "possibly the finest collection of early medieval artefacts ever discovered".
The Ormside Bowl is an Anglo-Saxon double-bowl in gilded silver and bronze, with glass, perhaps Northumbrian, dating from the mid-8th century which was found in 1823, possibly buried next to a Viking warrior in Great Ormside, Cumbria, though the circumstances of the find were not well recorded. If so, the bowl was probably looted from York by the warrior before being buried with him on his death. The bowl is one of the finest pieces of Anglo-Saxon silverwork found in England.
York Museums Trust (YMT) is the charity responsible for operating some key museums and galleries in York, England. The trust was founded in 2002 to run York's museums on behalf of the City of York Council. It has seen an increase in annual footfall of 254,000 to the venues since its foundation. In both 2016 and 2017, it saw its annual visitors numbers reach 500,000 people.
The Galloway Hoard, currently held in the National Museum of Scotland, is a hoard of more than 100 gold, silver, glass, crystal, stone, and earthen objects from the Viking Age, discovered in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, in September 2014. Found on Church of Scotland land, the hoard has been described by experts as "one of the most significant Viking hoards ever found in Scotland". With years of extensive study and research, scholars are still not certain who buried the hoard, why they did so and whether they were Vikings or Anglo-Saxons. During the Viking Age, Galloway found itself squeezed between two Viking kingdoms and essentially cut off from other Anglo-Saxons in Britain – "Galloway is where these different cultures were meeting. It's not just Scandinavians, but people from Britain and Ireland as well."
Elizabeth Grayson Hartley, was an American archaeologist and curator. She spent most of her career as the Keeper of Archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum in York.
Catherine Johns is a British archaeologist and museum curator. She is a specialist in Roman jewellery, Romano-British provincial art, and erotic art.
Barbara Joan Pyrah (1943–2016) was a British geologist, museum curator, and illustrator.
The Gilling sword is an Anglo-Saxon sword, dating from the late 9th to early 10th centuries AD, found by a schoolboy in a river in 1976 and subsequently acquired by the Yorkshire Museum.
The Head of Constantine the Great, York is the only surviving fragment of larger, marble statue of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. It was found in Stonegate, York, before 1823, and is now in the Yorkshire Museum.
Andrew R. Woods is a British numismatist, archaeologist and curator specialising in early medieval and Viking coinage. He is the senior curator of the Yorkshire Museum and was formerly the curator of numismatics at the York Museums Trust.
Elizabeth Jean Elphinstone Pirie was a British numismatist specialising in ninth-century Northumbrian coinage, and museum curator, latterly as Keeper of Archaeology at Leeds City Museum from 1960 to 1991. She wrote eight books and dozens of articles throughout her career. She was a fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, president of the Yorkshire Numismatic Society and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
The Ryedale Roman Bronzes is an assemblage of Roman metalwork.
Media related to Yorkshire Museum at Wikimedia Commons