The vision of securing Cambridge’s reputation as an international centre of museums excellence received a major boost today when Arts Council England awarded University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) nearly £4.5m for 2015-18 and continuing Major Partner Museum status.
Earlier this year a conservator at the Hamilton Kerr Institute made a surprising discovery while working on a 17th-century painting owned by the Fitzwilliam Museum. As Shan Kuang cleaned the surface, she revealed the beached whale that had been the intended focus of the composition. The artwork is now back on display in the Fitzwilliam's newly-refurbished gallery of Dutch Golden Age painting.
Our lives are bound up with objects. Museums are evidence of our deep preoccupation with the things that surround us, whether natural or the product of human endeavour. Why do we keep stuff, what do we learn from it – and what does our fascination for objects from our past tell us about being human today?
From 11 – 14 November 2013 the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, welcomed five students from the Torres Strait Islands. The secondary school pupils, from Waybeni Koey Ngurpay Mudh Tagai State College (Thursday Island Secondary campus) visited the museum as part of a cultural and educational exchange and to embark on their own historical research
University of Cambridge museums are among those highlighted as examples of best practice in a new report focusing on the outstanding contributions made by the University Museums Group UK.
Maori paddles presented to Captain Cook’s crew on their first voyage of discovery capture the spirit of a first encounter between two cultures.
The University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge will be closed to the public from June 2nd 2013. Subject to planning permission, the museum will be undergoing a major redevelopment.
The Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (MAA) has been announced as one of the ten finalists for the prestigious Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2013. Celebrating the very best UK museums and galleries, it is the largest arts prize in the UK. The prize aims to reward and highlight innovation and creativity in bringing objects and collections to life.
A notebook recording the fauna of Cambridgeshire observed and collected by the Reverend Leonard Jenyns between 1820 and 1849 has been published in full for the first time. A significant naturalist in his own right, Jenyns turned down the offer of a place on HMS Beagle, recommending instead a younger colleague, Charles Darwin.
Eminent art historian and former director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, Philippe de Montebello will this week give two lectures that explore the multiple lives of works of art. Both lectures are free and open to the public.
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