Children enjoy the one of the galleriesChildren enjoy the one of the galleries
Children enjoy the one of the galleries

Pictures: Wonders of the past and present day revealed at Aylesbury museum’s new galleries

Buckinghamshire’s county museum celebrated the opening of its new galleries with a day of activities.

The new galleries at the Discover Bucks Museum in Aylesbury (formerly the Bucks County Museum) opened to the public on Saturday, April 2, with a chance for visitors to handle objects with the museum’s curators, meet the expert researching the Lenborough Hoard, meet a Bronze Age re-enactor working on a replica cast of a Bronze Age sword and a First World War soldier and take part in a range of artistic activities.

The five new galleries tell the story of Bucks people and landscapes from 200 million years ago to today, featuring star objects from the museum collections.

The journey starts 200 million years ago in the Discover Bucks Geology gallery, where fossils reveal the prehistoric creatures that swam in the Jurassic seas and the giant woolly mammoths that lived here during the Ice Age.

In the Discover Bucks Archaeology gallery, visitors can meet the earliest people to arrive in Bucks, discover a 3,000-year-old sword, one of the largest hoards of Anglo-Saxon coins ever found and the bones of a Saxon ‘princess’ who was really a noblewoman from Aston Clinton.

The Discover Bucks People gallery focuses on more recent history and up to the present day, with items on view including a Sikh bridal suit, a piano with a harp on top called a euphonicon, from Claydon House, and a carefully conserved section of Chinese wallpaper from Hampden House.

Discover Bucks Art gallery tells a visual story of Bucks through artists past and present.

The Discover Bucks Wildlife gallery is set to be completed over the summer.

Museum director Sue Shave said: “We are immensely proud of these new galleries, which are an incredible achievement during a worldwide pandemic, and made possible by our dedicated staff, volunteers, friends and patrons and our local communities.”

For museum opening times and ticket prices visit discoverbucksmuseum.org