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Former name | New Walk Museum |
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| Established | 1849; 176 years ago (1849) |
| Location | New Walk,Leicester,England |
| Coordinates | 52°37′44″N1°07′40″W / 52.628954°N 1.127765°W /52.628954; -1.127765 |
| Curator | Mark Evans |
| Architect | Joseph Hansom |
| Owner | Leicester City Council |
| Nearest car park | On site (no charge) |
| Website | Leicester Museum & Art Gallery |
TheLeicester Museum & Art Gallery (until 2020,New Walk Museum and Art Gallery) is a museum onNew Walk inLeicester,England, not far from thecity centre.[1] It opened in 1849 as one of the firstpublic museums in theUnited Kingdom.[2] Leicester Museum & Art Gallery contains displays of science, history and art, both international and local. The original building was designed byJoseph Hansom, designer of thehansom cab.[3] It has been expanded several times, most recently in 2011.
Permanent exhibits includedinosaurs, anEgyptian area, minerals ofLeicestershire, the firstCharnia fossil identified nearby, and a wildspace area featuring stuffed animals from around the world.
Leicester Museum & Art Gallery has a significant collection of extinct lifeforms. Two Mesozoic reptile skeletons are permanently on display — acetiosaur found inRutland, and aplesiosaur fromBarrow upon Soar.[1]
The Rutland Dinosaur, affectionately nicknamed George, is a specimen ofCetiosaurus oxoniensis. The 15 metres (49 ft) dinosaur, which is among the most completesauropod skeletons in the world, was discovered in June 1968, in the Williamson Cliffe quarry nearLittle Casterton inRutland. The skeletal remains have been in the museum since 1975; the majority of the bones in the display are replicas of the originals, which are too fragile to be used.[4][5] The Rutland Dinosaur featured on an episode ofBlue Peter, and was opened byBlue Peter'sJanet Ellis in 1985.
The Barrow Kipper, named afterthe flattened fish, is a skeleton of an unidentified plesiosaur discovered inBarrow upon Soar in 1851. Originally classified asPlesiosaurus macrocephalus, it was later reclassified asRhomaleosaurus megacephalus. However, according to Adam Smith and Gareth Dyke (2008), the fossil is actually of another, unnamed genus.[6]
In September 2011, the museum expanded its Dinosaur Gallery, reorganizing fossils, adding a new room, and modifying the gallery itself. The new Dinosaur Gallery, which predominantly features extinctmarine reptiles, was opened byDavid Attenborough.[7][1] The "star attractions" of the new gallery include the aforementioned Rutland cetiosaur,Charnia and plesiosaur fossils, as well as aLeedsichthys fossil and a piece of theBarwell Meteorite.
The museum holds a specimen of international importance, theCharnia fossil.[8] It is the first fossil that was ever described that came from undoubtedPrecambrian rocks, which until this point had been thought to be too early for large forms of life.[9] The object in the museum – "Leicester's fossil celebrity"[10] – is aholotype, that is, the actual physical example from which the species was first identified and formally described.Charnia masoni was named afterRoger Mason, who discovered it atCharnwood Forest in 1957, when he was a schoolboy, and who went on to a career as an academic geologist. He acknowledges, and the museum'sCharnia display explains, that the fossil had been discovered a year earlier by a schoolgirl,Tina Negus, "but no one took her seriously."[11][12]
The museum has a permanent Egyptology exhibit. The museum holds fourEgyptianmummies, named Pa-nesit-tawy, Pe-iuy, Bes-en-Mut and Ta-Bes.[13] Pe-iuy was the first to enter the museum's collection being purchased in 1859 for £45.[14] Bes-en-Mut and Ta-Bes were taken out of Egypt by John Mason Cook the son ofThomas Cook in around 1880. He later gifted them to the museum.[14]
Pa-nesit-tawy was the last being donated to the museum by the Huntingdon Literary and Scientific society in 1928.[14] Living in 600BC and buried in Thebes he was gifted in 1869 toEdward VII then Prince of Wales.[14] Edward VII regifted Pa-nesit-tawy toOliver George Paulet Montagu who in turn gifted him to the Huntingdon Literary and Scientific society.[14]
The Egyptology section of the museum has undergone an expansion, covering life in Egypt in greater detail, as well as a section focused on death in Egypt, which is where the four mummies are held. The artefacts came mainly from Europeans visiting Egypt during the revival of interest in Egyptology which occurred during the 19th century. The capacity of the galleries have been greatly expanded as of 2018. The museum holds a collection of over 400 objects from the Ancient Egyptian era, but has only, until recently, been able to display around a third of these. The new gallery has allowed for these to be shown to the public.[15] Since 2020 the galley has been home to a statue of Husband and wife, Sethmose and Isisnofret purchased from the then bankruptThomas Cook Group.[16]
The museum has a stuffedpolar bear,Peppy, the mascot ofFox's Glacier Mints.[17] This is held in a collection of taxidermy animals, which have been collected from areas around the world. The exhibit includes a number of temperate specimens, as well as polar and savannah specimens.
The museum holds the UK's largest collection of GermanExpressionist art.[18] These paintings, including works byGeorge Grosz,Wassily Kandinsky andPaul Klee, were smuggled out ofNazi Germany beforeWorld War II.[19] The Nazis condemned the work of these painters – see the 1937Degenerate Art Exhibition. Hans Hess, son of the German-Jewish industrialist and art collector,Alfred Hess, was assistant curator at the museum.
In 2007, more than 100 pieces ofPicassoceramic art went on display at the museum, having been donated byRichard Attenborough.[20]
On the first floor of the museum is an exhibition area that changes periodically. Exhibits have included a display focusing on thesearch for the remains of Richard III, aWallace and Gromit display, andSpirits of War to Hands of Peace, an exhibit of paintings and sculpture on the horrors of war and the power of peace.[21]
As part of the National Portrait Gallery's 'Coming Home' project, a portrait ofRichard III was on temporary display during the summer of 2019, following thereinterment of the king inLeicester Cathedral in 2015.[22]
The museum was relaunched in August 2020, after a lengthy closure in response to theCOVID-19 pandemic. The museum reopened under a new name: Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, chosen "to demonstrate that it is Leicester's leading museum, and to help people from outside the city if they are searching online for Leicester museums."[23]
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52°37′45″N1°07′40″W / 52.6292°N 1.1278°W /52.6292; -1.1278
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