In the early 1700s, the emerging industry of buildings insurance (following the Great Fire) was doing big business. Insurers created plates, such as this one, in order to identify which houses were insured by each company when the fire brigades arrived …
Visitors to the museum on 21st June are invited spend an hour doing daylight astronomy from the garden where William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781. It’s the summer solstice, when the Earth is fully tilted towards the sun …
Hands are reputedly the hardest part of the body to paint. And so I typed ‘hands’ into ArtUK and waited to see what came back. There’s a lot, and largely very well executed (to my untrained eye). This pair of hands caught my eye. Even though there’s only one full hand visible …
Museum objects tend to stay still in their display cases. Chatting with an interpretation friend who works in natural heritage recently, I reflected on how difficult it must be to tell stories about things that move. And so meet Dash, a three-year-old tiger …
Not the beady eyes of a spider with heterochromia, nor shining lamps at a harbour entrance marking port and starboard, this is instead a ruby and an emerald, set into a golden ring from the 1400s. It was probably a love token or betrothal ring …
Cross boomerangs such as this one were used in throwing competitions by older Aboriginal boys and men of the Yidinji language group near Cairns in northern Queensland. The contests judged both the skill of the player and the quality of their boomerang's construction. The tips …
Designed for being blasted into space and orbiting the Earth, the word Soyuz (in English, Union) has come into modern parlance and is synonymous with the Soviet space programme from the 1960s onwards …
Even on dry land and with no flesh on its bones, this whale is still a stunning sight. This 9m (29ft) skeleton of a young humpback was washed ashore near Barry in 1982. It’s thought to have been …
The jostling legs, the frocks and the headdresses of the cancan dancers of the Moulin Rouge capture a moment in 1890s Paris, summoning something of the thrills and delights of Bohemian Montmatre. This is Toulouse-Lautrec’s first poster for the club …
This bronze head, created by the so-called ‘father of modern sculpture’ is one of the earliest works going on display in the Pompidou’s current temporary exhibition. The gallery podcast says this object: “hints at dreams and utter tranquillity, free of all material …
In 1965, portable defibrillators were brand new and, in the case of this prototype, powered by a car battery. Frank Pantridge was the person responsible, developing this kit in Belfast where he was an emergency medicine doctor who believed strongly in the rapid treatment …
Concealed for over 30 years within an unassuming Victorian semi-detached house, Ron Gittins’ magical home remained a secret until his death in 2019. Now it’s been granted a Grade II* listing by Historic England, meaning it can be protected and preserved. And not just save, also used …
Try ordering a copy of Earth Platinum from your local bookshop and they’ll get quite the surprise. There were only 31 printed and the price tag is $100,000 USD. It would also take quite the delivery truck at 1.8 metres tall and weighing 150 kilograms. I viewed this copy ten years ago …
Art is beautiful, but also dangerous. Sappho (on the right here) wrote nine books of poetry, the principal subject of which is the joy and frustration of love. That these two women are lovers is clear by the pair of doves seated above them …
There’s something rather special about placing multiple museum objects together into a display, especially items that would usually only be seen on their own, such as these train signs. There’s power in numbers …
If protests in the name of the climate don’t harm museum collections permanently, and they bring real attention to the cause they’re championing, are they valid? Conservators have cleaned this bust of QV …
In 27 BC, an earthquake shook the head of the great Rameses to the ground, leaving it in pieces on the floor, 20 metres below. Carved out of the rock, the façade has four statues of Rameses II, each 20 metres high, flanking the entrance to his great temple. When the Aswan High Dam was created…
There are thought to be more than 1.5 million species of beetle on the planet, meaning that one quarter of all animal species are beetles. This display of shimmering jewel-like insects seems like …
Encountered at lifesize, the unrealistic nature of these aspirational bodies is impossible to ignore. This special edition scaled-up version Barbie doll has a 21-inch waist, with a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.65. Were she a living woman, her body would fall into the underweight range. She is accompanied by …
This garment speaks to the generosity and resilience of women in the face of hugely challenging, and radically changed, circumstances. The woman who made it, donated the dress to another woman, who was expelled from her home during the Nakba of 1948 …
Did you ever stick a picture of a celebrity on your bedroom wall or into your school books? Byron was fascinated by the culture of celebrity. In the early 1800s, the lives of boxers and actors were the stuff of gossip and their printed portraits were widely available …
Brightly coloured and smiling, this bear was made in a prison cell by someone who had plenty of time on their hands. Letters, cards and gifts pass constantly into and out of prisons …
Special Operations Executive agents operating in South-East Asia during the Second World War used overshoes like these to cover their tracks. Strapped under the wearer’s shoes …
With its dinghies, dilutants, solutions and snowfall, is this a poem? Or is it a painting? Given how much I enjoy looking at it, I don't really mind if it’s neither or both. The intertwined words and phrases …
Tulips might be best associated with spring, but they’ve just started to reappear on florists’ stands across Britain, bringing some colour and light to these dark months …
Tell visitors they are welcome! Made from brightly coloured aluminium and stainless steel, contrasting with the stone building surrounding it, this landmark work is inspired by the historical identity of Bury, taking elements from its industrial past …
