| Yorkshire Museum | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1830 |
| Location | York, England |
| Director | Mary Kershaw, York Museums Trust |
| Website | www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk |
The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It is the home of the Cawood sword, and has four permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology and astronomy. It underwent a major refurbishment from November 2009 to 1 August 2010, with major structural changes and a re-development of all existing galleries.
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The Museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society 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, ten acres (0.040 km²) of land formerly belonging to St Mary’s Abbey in order to build a new museum. The main building of the museum is called the Yorkshire Museum and was designed by William Wilkins in a Greek Revival style. It 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; this was done in the 1830s, and they 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.[1]
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.
In 1960, the Museum along with the Museum Gardens, were given in trust to York City Council, its successor the City of York Council in 2002 set up the York Museums Trust to manage the York Castle Museum, York Art Gallery, the Yorkshire Museum and the Museum Gardens.[2][3]
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".[4]
The museum also has a collection of studio pottery consisting of over 3,500 pieces that represent more than 500 potters. These were bequeathed to the Yorkshire Museum by Wakefield librarian Bill Ismay in 2001. The collection can be seen in York Art Gallery.[9]
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.[10]
The museum closed in November 2009 for a major refurbishment and reopened on 1 August 2010, Yorkshire Day. The £2 million scheme was largely carried out by the museum's own staff, who restructured the interior of the building and re-decorated it. The result is three major sections: "Eboracum: Face to Face with the Romans", "York: The Power and the Glory" (Anglian, Viking and Medieval York), and "Extinct: A way of life" a "fun, family-oriented gallery" featuring fossils, skeletons and animal specimens. There will also be a "History of York" section and "Enquiry - The Learning Level".[11]
A Viking 10th century niello silver-gilt pot full of coins was found near Harrogate in 2007. It was valued at £1,082,000 and acquired jointly by the British Museum and the York Museums Trust. After being cleaned by the conservation department of the British Museum it was displayed at the Yorkshire Museum from 17 September 2009 for a period of six weeks before moving to the British Museum.[12][13] It is planned that the hoard will be displayed in the museum again when it reopens after refurbishment on 1 August 2010.