The
Great North Museum is a visitor attraction in
Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England...
in
North East EnglandNorth-East England is one of the nine official regions of England and comprises the combined area of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Tees Valley. The historic name for North-East England is Northumbria and whilst a few regional bodies still use this name, it is rarely used in...
, UK. It features two venues: the Great North Museum: Hancock and the
Hatton GalleryThe Hatton Gallery is Newcastle University's art exhibition gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and is a part of the Great North Museum.- History :...
. Both the Hatton Gallery and the Hancock Museum are currently open.
The £26 million Great North Museum project is a partnership between Newcastle University, Tyne & Wear Museums,
Newcastle City CouncilNewcastle City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear, in north-east England. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the city's 26 wards...
, the Natural History Society of Northumbria and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The
Great North Museum is a visitor attraction in
Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England...
in
North East EnglandNorth-East England is one of the nine official regions of England and comprises the combined area of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Tees Valley. The historic name for North-East England is Northumbria and whilst a few regional bodies still use this name, it is rarely used in...
, UK. It features two venues: the Great North Museum: Hancock and the
Hatton GalleryThe Hatton Gallery is Newcastle University's art exhibition gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and is a part of the Great North Museum.- History :...
. Both the Hatton Gallery and the Hancock Museum are currently open.
Development
The £26 million Great North Museum project is a partnership between Newcastle University, Tyne & Wear Museums,
Newcastle City CouncilNewcastle City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear, in north-east England. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the city's 26 wards...
, the Natural History Society of Northumbria and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. The Great North Museum project has been made possible with funding from the
Heritage Lottery FundThe Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
, TyneWear Partnership,
One NorthEast, the
European Regional Development FundEuropean Regional Development Fund is a fund allocated by the European Union.-Scope:As part of its task to promote regional development, the ERDF contributes towards financing the following measures:...
, Newcastle University, Newcastle City Council, the
Department for Culture, Media and SportThe Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, for example broadcasting...
, the
Wolfson FoundationThe Wolfson Foundation is a charitable foundation based in London, set up in 1955. Grants are made to registered charities in the UK - Overview :...
and The Northern Rock Foundation, as well as numerous other trusts and foundations. The building architects were Terry Farrell and Partner; Sir Terry Farrell is a native of Newcastle, and had previously been a student at Newcastle University.
On 21 November 2008 the 'Be Part of It' campaign was launched, and it was announced that the Great North Museum: Hancock would be opening in 2009. Athlete
Jonathan EdwardsJonathan David Edwards, CBE, is a former British triple jumper. He is a former Olympic, Commonwealth, European and World champion, and has held the world record in the event since 1995....
is the patron of the 'Be Part of It' campaign. Donors to the campaign have the opportunity to have their name (or the name of a loved one) permanently included on a donor wall in the museum.
Great North Museum: Hancock
The
Great North Museum: Hancock not only holds the collections of the former Hancock Museum and collates those of Newcastle University's
Museum of AntiquitiesThe Museum of Antiquities was an archaeological museum at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England which opened in 1960.The museum is jointly run by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the main archaeology museum in north east...
and
Shefton MuseumThe Shefton Museum of Greek Art and Archaeology was an archaeological museum at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England which opened in 1956 and closed in 2008. Its collections are now part of the Great North Museum.- History :...
, which closed their doors in 2008. The museum opened on 23 May 2009.
The natural history museum includes an interactive model of
Hadrian's WallHadrian's Wall is a stone or turf and timber fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England. Begun in 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall in what is...
, new displays showing diversity of the animal and plant kingdoms, objects from the Ancient Greeks and mummies from
Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
, a
planetariumA planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
and a life-size T-Rex dinosaur skeleton. The interactive Bio-Wall features hundreds of creatures, that visitors will be able to investigate and find out where they live and how they survive in such extreme places as the Arctic and Desert. Live animal tanks and aquaria have been integrated into this display where visitors are to see creatures such as wolf fish, pythons, lizards and leaf cutting ants. There is also a full size model of an
elephantElephants are large land mammals in two genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta. Three species of elephant are living today: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant...
, a
great white sharkThe great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, also known as great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. Reaching lengths of more than and weighing up to , the great white shark is arguably the world's...
, a
polar bearThe polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest carnivore species found on land. It is also the largest bear, together with the omnivore Kodiak bear which is approximately...
, a
giraffeThe giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant. It is covered in large, irregular patches of yellow to black fur separated by white, off-white, or dark yellowish brown background. The average mass for an adult male...
and
moaThe moa were ten species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
skeleton.
Hatton Gallery
The university's art gallery, the Hatton Gallery is also a part of the Great North Museum Project, but is not relocating to the Hancock, and is thus remaining in Newcastle University's Fine Art Building. Its permanent collection comprises over 3,500 works, some dating back to the 14th century. These works of art include paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings. Notably, it houses the
Merzbarn - the only surviving Merz construction by
Kurt SchwittersKurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters was a German painter who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dada, Constructivism, Surrealism, poetry, sound, painting, sculpture, graphic design, typography and what came to be known as...
. The gallery stayed open during the Great North Museum development.
External links