Cambridge Museums

Museums also hold many treasures which give an exciting insight. Cambridge has some of the imposing museums.

Built in 1848, the imposing neoclassical Fitzwilliam Museum hosts the art collections of Viscount Fitzwilliam. It is the finest small museum in Europe.

The museum has five departments: Antiquities; Applied Arts; Coins and Medals; Manuscripts and Printed Books; Paintings, Drawings and Prints. Really a collection of beauty, quality and rarity where you can appreciate:

• Antiquities: Art of Ancient Egypt, Sudan, Greece, Rome and Cyprus.
• Applied Arts: Including English and European pottery, glass, furniture, clocks, fans, armour, Chinese, Japanese and Korean art.
• Coins and Medals: Ancient, medieval and modern, plus medals since the Renaissance.
• Manuscripts and Printed Books: Rare books, illuminated manuscripts and music.

The museum is housed in a delightful half-timbered building that once served as an inn. The collections show in detail the everyday life of Cambridge people over the past 400 years. Intriguing displays focus on crafts and trades, toys and games, and the perennial conflict between "town and gown" in Cambridge life. There is a recreation of a Victorian home and a pub scene. A regular program of temporary exhibits runs throughout the year and the museum runs a series of educational programs for young people.

A combination research facility and zoological collection, the museum is a part of the Department of Zoology at Cambridge University. It is located in a modern building, near the Sedgewick Museum of Geology and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

The museum houses permanent exhibits of life forms, organised from simplest organisms and vertebrates up to birds and mammals. Both fossil and currently living species are represented in the collection on display. In addition, the museum shows temporary exhibits, made to illustrate a particular scientific or zoological theme.

The museum holds over 1 million samples of rocks, fossils, minerals, soft sediments, building and decorative stones. The collection is available to both students and visitors, and a special research room is available to aid researchers.

The Watson Collection, on the museum's ground floor, houses the Museum's decorative and building stones, covering not only England, but materials used throughout the world.

A special exhibit entitled "Life in the Jurassic Sea." traces dinosaur and other sea life in the Jurassic period, while the Burgess Shale exhibit looks at the fossil remains of plant life found in the Canadian Rockies. The mineral collection has over 40,000 specimens, making it one of the largest in the UK. Notable strengths of the mineral collection are the Cornish and Cambrian minerals.

The Hume Collection features both cut and uncut diamonds. Other exhibits display colour in minerals, and give special attention to calcite, jade, and gemstones.

Located near to Fitzwilliam Museum, is part of the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Geography at Cambridge University. It houses the most important and highly respected library and archive of polar studies in the world.

The museum was founded in 1920 as a memorial to Robert Falcon Scott, who died while leading an expedition to the South Pole. The museum showcases artefacts from polar exploration, including diaries, sleds, and displays on life in arctic regions. There is a very large photographic library relating to polar exploration, and extensive geographic and historical information in the archives.

The museum is a part of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University. It is housed in a 3 story house in the centre of Cambridge, and contains collections from around the world. The ground floor gallery features world prehistory and local archaeology, the first floor houses the social anthropology collection, while the second floor is given over to special exhibitions reflecting the interests of the Faculty. The museum collections total over 750,000 artefacts of historic and anthropological interest, including over 70,000 photographs. The collections are especially strong in the areas of Oriental and African studies, visual arts, and classics.

Though the museum welcomes researchers, its limited space and high demand means that visiting scholars should contact the museum administration at least one month ahead of a proposed visit. Researchers cannot be accommodated during August and September.

Casual visitors are welcome without prior notice at regular opening hours.

The museum was founded in 1944 and covers all branches of scientific endeavour - a tall order indeed. It displays scientific instruments, models, photographs, and artefacts relating to scientific exploration and discovery, including instruments used at the University as far back as the 16th century.

Displays are produced by the students and staff of the colleges, and include exhibits by the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. The Upper gallery houses an exhibition on the role of college observatories at the university during the 18th century.

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