| York Town Guide |
 |
Yorkshire Museum | |
 |
To the north-east of the city centre, just outside the City Walls, you will find the Museum Gardens, in the centre of which is the Yorkshire Museum (the entrance is on Exhibition Square). |
| This is on the site of St Mary's Abbey, which is now a picturesque ruin in the centre of the Museum Gardens. The Yorkshire Museum is housed in a Greek-style building that was designed by William Wilkins who also built the National Gallery in London. The building was completed in 1829, and has been home to a museum ever since. This is where you will find many of the most significant artefacts from Yorkshire's history, many the result of archealogical digs in the city. The finds are displayed in a series of chronological galleries and include sections on Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking York. Among the more significant artefacts there is a marble bust of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who was crowned emperor in York, and several Viking swords. But the museum's piece de resistance is undoutedly the "Middleham Jewel", reputed to be "the finest piece of English Gothic jewellery found this century". The "Jewel" is a 15th century pendant with a large sapphire as its centrepiece, which was found near Middleham Castle in 1985. Overall the Yorkshire Museum is excellent and well worth a visit. In particular it is suitable for families for it is very child-friendly, for example the Roman section includes a reconstruction of a Roman kitchen and there is also a reconstruction of monastic life in the Abbey that once stood here. The Yorkshire Museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm Mondays to Saturdays and from 1pm to 5pm on Sundays. Entry costs around £3.50 for adults. | |
| A | B |C | D | F | G | H | J | M | N | O | R | S | T | V | W |Y |
York Town Guide Home Page
Travel Advice | Accommodation in York | Other Town Guides
Copyright © 1995 to 2016 Smooth Hound Systems
Smooth Hound Systems accepts no liability with regards to the accuracy of the information on this site.
Users are advised to double check information such as dates, times, prices etc.