Cambridge (England) museums and galleries · Museums and Galleries in Cambridge (England)
All Destinations | Europe | Asia | North America | Africa | South America | Oceania | Hotels
Museums and Galleries in Cambridge (England)
Museums and Galleries in Cambridge (England)
The Fitzwilliam Museum , Trumpington Street, +44 (0)1223 332900 . Tu-Sa 10AM-5PM. Su 12PM-5PM. The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge and is on Trumpington Street. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. The museum was founded in 1816 with the bequest of the library and art collection of the VIIth Viscount FitzWilliam. The bequest also included £100,000 "to cause to be erected a good substantial museum repository". The "Founder's Building" itself was designed by George Basevi, completed by C. R. Cockerell and opened in 1848; the entrance hall is by Edward Middleton Barry and was completed in 1875. The Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum re-opened in 2006 after a two-year, £1.5 million programme of refurbishment, conservation and research. The museum has five departments: Antiquities; Applied Arts; Coins and Medals; Manuscripts and Printed Books; and Paintings, Drawings and Prints. Highlights include masterpieces by Titian, Rubens, Van Dyck, Canaletto, Hogarth, Gainsborough, Constable, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne and Picasso and a fine collection of 20th century art. Admission free.
Kettle's Yard , Castle Street, 01223 352124 . House open Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays 1.30 - 4.30PM (1st weekend in April - last weekend in September); Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays 2PM - 4PM (1st weekend in October - last weekend in March). Gallery open Tuesday to Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays 11.30AM - 5.00PM. Kettle's Yard is the former home of Jim and Helen Ede and houses the fine collection of art, from the early part of this century, which they gave to the University. Artists represented include Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, David Jones, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. There is a separate gallery for exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, which are widely advertised and detailed on the website. Each exhibition is accompanied by a lively programme of talks, workshops and discussion groups for all ages. Music at Kettle's Yard: Kettle's Yard presents programmes of chamber music concerts and contemporary music concerts. Admission free.
The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences , Downing Street, 01223 333456. Monday to Friday, 10AM - 1PM and 2PM - 5PM; Saturday 10AM - 4PM. Closed on Bank Holidays. One of the University's many hidden treasures, and actually its oldest museum, the Sedgwick is packed full of fossils with more than 1 million in its collection. These range from the earliest forms of life from more than 3000 million years ago, to the wildlife that roamed the Fens less than 150,000 years ago. Displays include a gallery of minerals and gemstones, the world's largest spider, rocks collected by Charles Darwin on the 'Voyage of the Beagle', dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Triassic, and fossils from the local area including a hippopotamus from the nearby Barrington gravel pits. The museum organises many activities, so it's always a good idea to check its website. Admission free.
The University Museum of Zoology , the New Museum Site, Downing Street, 01223 336650 . Monday to Friday 10AM - 4.45PM (closed on Bank Holidays). Open Saturdays mornings 10AM - 1PM from June to September. The University Museum of Zoology displays a great range of recent and fossil animals, emphasising the structural diversity and evolutionary relationships among the animal kingdom. The collections were accumulated from 1814 onwards, and include many specimens collected by Charles Darwin. To find the museum, look for the spectacular whale skeleton, hung above the entrance and visible through the archway from Downing Street. Admission free.
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science , Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Free School Lane, just off Pembroke Street, 01223 330906. Monday to Friday 12.30PM - 4.30PM. Closed at weekends, bank holidays and occasionally over the Christmas period. Visitors are advised to check beforehand by contacting the Museum. The Whipple Museum is a pre-eminent collection of scientific instruments and models, dating from the Middle Ages to the present. Included in this outstanding collection are microscopes and telescopes, sundials, early slide rules, pocket electronic calculators, laboratory equipment and teaching and demonstration apparatus. Admission free.
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology , Downing Street, 01223 333516 . Tuesday to Saturday 2PM - 4.30PM. Closed at Christmas and Easter and on most public holidays. Possible extended summer opening - please telephone or email for details. The Museum contains large and important collections of archaeological and anthropological material from all parts of the world. The archaeological collections from all periods include significant collections from Palaeolithic Europe, Asia and Africa; Precolumbian Central and South America; early civilizations of the Mediterranean; and British archaeology. The world-renowned anthropological collections include important collections from the South Seas, West Africa and the Northwest Coast of North America; historic collections from the 18th century; and extensive photographic collections from the 19th and 20th centuries. Admission free.
Museum of Classical Archaeology Sidgwick Avenue, 01223 330402 Open Monday-Friday: 10AM to 5PM; Saturday: 10AM to 1PM; closed Sunday. Admission is free. The Museum of Classical Archaeology is one of the few surviving collections of plaster casts of Greek & Roman sculpture in the world. The collection of about four hundred and fifty casts is open to the public and housed in a purpose-built Cast Gallery on the first floor of the Classics Faculty. Although nothing here is an original, nearly all the well-known (and not so well-known) works from the Classical world can be seen together under one roof. The reserve research collections consist of another two hundred plaster casts, Greek vases, pottery sherds, and epigraphic squeezes. These can be consulted by arrangement.
The Folk Museum Castle Street Tuesday-Sunday (also Mondays in Summer) 10.30-5.30. The only local social history museum in Cambridge and is the most comprehensive collection representing life in the South Cambridgeshire villages. Housed in an old Coaching House, the museum is home to some 20,000 objects representing the history of local life away from the University.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cambridge (England)
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Cambridge (England) - updated May 2024
SAVE up to 75% on Last Minute deals! Search for discount Cambridge (England) hotels, motels, apartments, hostels, guest accommodations and vacation resorts. Book now and pay at the hotel. Instant email confirmation!
>>> SEARCH FOR DEALS <<<
WHERE TO TRAVEL NEXT IN 2020
Cambridge (England) Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.