Families, local residents and community groups can find out about the past and present history of the University and the town at a selection of free talks on Saturday (12 September).

The six talks are part of the annual ‘Open Cambridge Weekend’ hosted by the University which will take place from 11th -13th September.

The talks will be held at the Babbage Lecture Theatre on Downing Street and will cover a variety of topics ranging from the impact of the University and its colleges on the Cambridge townscape, to opening the lid on the Fitzwilliam Museum and finding out what goes on behind the scenes.

The free talks, which do not require pre-booking, are open to all.

This year, Open Cambridge marks the University’s 800th anniversary and will explore its history since its foundation in 1209 in a variety of tours, talks and art exhibitions.

The weekend offers a rare chance to explore Cambridge’s spectacular architecture, art collections and beautiful gardens.

From Friday to Sunday the Open Cambridge art exhibition will be on show at The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street from 10am till 5pm. The exhibition will be multi-media based and comprised of work produced by groups from Romsey Mill, Brown’s Field Community Centre and Arts and Minds.

The series of workshops were led by local visual artist Nikki Goldup and explored Cambridge’s academic history and used conceptions of Cambridge in 2009 to produce textiles, paintings, photography, writing and soundbytes for the project.

The exhibition is free and does not require pre-brooking.

To view the full programme of events for the ‘Open Cambridge Weekend’ please follow the link top right of this page.

Highlights from the Open Cambridge talks programme include:

• At 11:30am explore the history behind the 800th anniversary street banners that can be found throughout the city. Dr Frank Salmon will explore eight dates, one from each century of the University’s existence and look at the architecture of Cambridge’s buildings and how it has influenced architecture in England.
• If you have ever wondered how the University and Colleges exist alongside each other then the ‘Cambridge explained’ talk at 12:30pm will help you discover the different roles of both and get to grips with the Collegiate system.
• A chance to find out what goes on behind the scenes at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Kate Carreno, Assistant Director at the museum will explain what goes on in order to keep the building open and what exactly goes into caring for the collections at 3:30pm.
• Geoff Morris, Head of the 800th Anniversary Team will be hosting a talk at 1:30pm which will take you behind the scenes uncovering the challenges he has encountered in his role celebrating the University’s history.

 

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