Beneath one roof at last – treasures of the North

Dec 2 2008 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

DETAILS were revealed yesterday of a dozen major attractions which will welcome visitors to the new £26m Great North Museum.

The museum is due to open in April in the refurbished Hancock Museum and a new adjoining three-storey extension in Newcastle.

It will combine the collections of the Hancock Museum, and Newcastle University’s Museum of Antiquities and Shefton Greek Museum, allowing many more items to be displayed than was possible at the old venues. The first new gallery which will greet visitors on arrival will be Living Planet which will feature a 30m-long, 12m-high wall of cases containing a huge range of animal specimens, with sound effects, and a full-size model of an elephant.

One of the exhibits will be the stuffed Tyneside budgie Sparky Williams, who became a champion talker and even made his own LP record.

A domed planetarium will show Dawn of the Space Age, a programme documenting the history of space flight, and there will also be guided projection tours of the planets and stars.

Other galleries include:

Hadrian’s Wall: The centrepiece will be a 22m interactive model of the Wall.

The gallery will also contain the extensive Roman treasures from the Museum of Antiquities, such as the inscription stone which proves that it was the Emperor Hadrian who ordered the building of the Wall.

Roman Empire Gallery: This will use items from the Museum of Antiquities to look at the wider Roman empire, including a 3rd-4th Century carved foot which, if it came from a statue, would have made the figure eight metres tall, and a coin which represents Cleopatra as being less than beautiful.

Ice Age to Iron Age: The gallery will display natural history material and prehistoric finds from the region.

Anglo-Saxon: Items from this period from the North East, such as the Rothbury Cross, one of the best surviving examples of Anglo-Saxon sculpture in the region.

Natural Northumbria: The gallery will tell the story of the natural history and landscape of Northumbria, encouraging visitors to explore the real locations. One exhibit will be a stuffed Chillingham white bull.

Ancient Greeks will feature the outstanding collection from the little-known Shefton Museum, such as a Corinthian 7th Century BC bronze helmet.

Ancient Egyptians will have the two mummies which were on show in the Hancock Museum and objects on long-term loan from the British Museum such as a statue of the god Sekhmet.

World Cultures will showcase the many objects from exotic places and peoples brought back to the North East by travellers, mainly in the 19th Century. It will include items from Captain Cook’s voyages of discovery.

Fossil Stories: A collection of fossils from the region, and also crystals and gems demonstrating the mineral and mining wealth of the North East.

Discovery Centre – Explore! As a complete opposite to the old “do not touch” museum code, a 20m-long wall will contain shelves of items which can be handled.

The Mouse House will be a feature for the under-fives, encouraging youngsters to learn about the world around them.

Entry to the museum will be free but there will be charges for blockbuster exhibitions.

Page 2: Naturalist brothers' name lives on