The
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery is a museum on
New
Walk in
Leicester,
England, not far from the
city centre.
[1]
The original building was designed by Joseph Hansom, designer of the hansom
cab.
[2]
Two
dinosaur
skeletons are permanently installed in the museum �� a
cetiosaur
found in
Rutland (affectionately named
George), and a
plesiosaur from
Barrow upon Soar.
[1]
Other permanent exhibits include an
Egyptian area, minerals of
Leicestershire, the first
Charnia fossil
identified nearby, and a wildspace area featuring stuffed animals from around
the world.
The museum opened in 1849 as one of the first public museums established
within the
United Kingdom[3]
In September 2011, the New Walk Museum expanded its Dinosaur Gallery,
reorganizing fossils, adding a new room, and modifying the gallery itself. The
opening of the new Dinosaur Gallery was launched by
David
Attenborough.
[4][1]
The "star attractions" of the new gallery include the aforementioned Rutland
cetiosaur, Charnia and plesiosaur fossils, as well as a
Leedsichthys fossil and
a piece of the
Barwell
Meteorite. The new gallery predominantly features on extinct
marine
reptiles.
Major exhibits[edit]
The Rutland Dinosaur, or George, is the nickname given to LCM G468.1968, a
specimen of
Cetiosaurus oxoniensis.
The fifteen-meter dinosaur, which is among the most complete
sauropod
skeletons in the world, was discovered in June 1968, in the Williamson Cliffe
quarry near
Little Casterton and
Great Casterton. The
skeletal remains have been in the museum since 1975, and the majority of the
bones in the display are replicas of the fragile bones unable to be used.
[5][6]
The Rutland Dinosaur featured on an episode of
Blue Peter, and was
opened opened by
Blue Peter's
Janet Ellis in 1985.
The Barrow Kipper is a skeleton of an unidentified
plesiosaur
discovered in Barrow upon Soar in 1851. Originally classified as
Plesiosaurus
macrocephalus, it was later reclassified as
Rhomaleosaurus
megacephalus. However, according to Adam Smith and Gareth Dyke (2008), the
fossil is actually of another, unnamed genus.
[7]
Along with other artefacts, four
Egyptian mummies are displayed in the
museum, named Pa-nesit-tawy, Pe-iuy, Bes-en-Mut and Ta-Bes.
[8]
Discovered by
Roger Mason at
Charnwood Forest in
1957, the holotype of the
Precambrian Charnia masoni
is displayed in the New Walk Museum.
[9][10]
In 2007, more than 100 pieces of art went on display at the museum, donated
by
Richard
Attenborough.
Exhibitions[edit]
On the first floor of the museum is an exhibition area that changes
periodically. Recent exhibits have included a display focusing on the
search for
Richard III's remains, a
Wallace and
Gromit display, the (now permanent)
Attenborough
collection of
Picasso ceramics[11]
and
Spirits of War to Hands of Peace, an exhibit of paintings and
sculpture on the horrors of war and the power of peace.
[12]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
