28th April 2010

DORCHESTER: Night at the museums

DORCHESTER’S museums will be throwing open their doors for a special ‘Museums at Night’ event.

The historic county town of Dorset boasts six museums and this special event will see them all open from 5pm to 9pm. Added to that, there is a special ticket for that evening costing £6 for admission to all six museums.

Dorchester has a varitey of museums with a fantastic range of topics and themes from Romans to Tutankhamun, from teddy bears to Thomas Hardy, from Dorset’s military history to the terracotta army, and from dinosaurs to Dorchester’s history. Museums at Night promises to be a very special night offering families and individuals an unrivalled opportunity to explore and discover.

Dorchester is just seven miles from the Jurassic Coast and the award winning Dinosaur Museum.

The Jurassic theme continues in Dorset County Museum’s Jurassic Coast Gallery. This award winning museum has a Victorian Hall, Roman mosaics, and Thomas Hardy’s study. Six thousand years of Dorchester’s history are presented, combined with displays on Maiden Castle and Dorset Archaeology.

The life, death and legacy of Tutankhamun is rarely out of the news at present and The Tutankhamun Exhibition pulls all the various strands of this fascinating tale together. This internationally renowned exhibition superbly recreates the world’s greatest discovery of ancient treasure - Tutankhamun’s tomb, treasures and mummy.

The Keep Military Museum is a modern military museum that uses interactive computers and creative displays to tell the stories of courage, humour, tradition and sacrifice of those who served in the regiments of Devon and Dorset for over 300 years.

In the Teddy Bear Museum marvel at the evocative and atmospheric displays of the history of the teddy bear, featuring examples from the very earliest up to the present day.

Finally, The Terracotta Warriors Museum. It is the only museum devoted to the terracotta warriors - now regarded as the 8th Wonder of the Ancient World - outside of China.

See unique museum replicas of the terracotta warriors from China, plus reconstructions of costumes and armour and multimedia presentations.

Museums at Night from 5pm to 9pm on Saturday, May 15th brings all this together for you to explore and experience.