Since 2009 the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute (FoSPRI) have run an artist in residence scheme; sending intrepid artists to the Arctic (with 'One Ocean Expeditions' – sadly no longer trading) or Antarctic (initially onboard the Royal Navy's HMS Scott, then HMS Protector). The Polar Museum is lucky enough to receive part of the results of this unique scheme – a single artwork – gifted for its collections each year (other works go to both FoSPRI and the Royal Navy as appropriate).
We’re open on the third Saturday of the month, 10.00 – 16.00.
Free entry.
Join us for our Saturday opening and explore the history of science through our collection of microscopes, telescopes, and globes. Take part in family trails and visit our Learning Gallery, where you can engage with interactive handling boxes to discover topics such as Light & Sound, the Human Body, and Earth & Space.
For access information, please click here.
How can people from different generations be connected by artworks?
Young children and older adults have spent time together in community workshops exploring themes in the 'Picturing Excess' exhibition.
Come along to our drop in celebration to find out what we've been learning, and take part in creative activities yourself.
There will be music, sensory exploration, and art making.
Everybody - from babies to older adults - is welcome.
This exhibition presents eight contemporary artists whose works offer vantage points on a world in perpetual crisis. Rather than representing specific political events, or taking singular positions, each artist in this exhibition explores broader conditions of domination and conflict, as well as horizons for survival.
Join us for the Cambridge Festival family weekend opening!
Join us for the Cambridge Festival Family Weekend and explore the history of science through our collection of microscopes, telescopes, and globes. Take part in family trails and visit our Learning Gallery, where you can engage with interactive handling boxes to discover topics such as Light & Sound, the Human Body, and Earth & Space.
Events happenings:
Join us for a special Saturday workshop on 15 March led by artist James Tunnard, where we'll dive into the magic of colour and light.
As you may have heard, we’re creating a new art installation for the Learning Gallery ceiling and the activities in this workshop will inspire and contribute to this exciting piece!
Get creative with these hands-on activities:
Discover animal senses, feel textures handling real museum specimens, and uncover amazing stories of the evolution of animal colours. We will be joined by researchers working on the bright colours of passion vine butterflies, the changing populations of UK moths and more.
Drop-in. No need to book.
This event is part of the Cambridge Festival.
Date:
Saturday, 29 March, 2025 - 10:30 to 16:30
Today, natural history museums are starting to research the full histories of how their collections were built, and this can bring to light some surprising and troubling stories. Thylacines, or Tasmanian tigers, are icons of extinction, and some of the world’s best-preserved specimens are in Cambridge’s University Museum of Zoology. New research there has uncovered an uncomfortable truth about how the history of the extinction of the thylacine had strong parallels with the violent events that took place in Tasmania in the nineteenth century.
According to the late antique historian Orosius, the appearance of Augustus as the sole ruler of the Roman Empire was part of God’s plan for the Christianisation of the world: “Caesar’s empire was established with a view to the future coming of Christ”.
Join Tim Whitmarsh to explore to what extent did the spread of early Christianity depend on the emergence of the new world order. Is the success story of the new cult separable from that of the new political dispensation?
This event is part of Cambridge Festival.
Classics is thriving in Ghana. It is taught in two public universities (the University of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast) and undergraduate numbers there are bigger than here in Cambridge, and still growing. Classics Beyond Borders is a new initiative in the Faculty of Classics that has formed a collaboration with the University of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast to learn about how colleagues there have dealt with the challenge of decolonisation, increased student numbers over the years, and reinvigorated the discipline.
