Dover Museum facts for kids
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| Location | Dover, England |
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Dover Museum is a cool place to visit in Dover, a town in south-east England. It's full of amazing history from the area, showing what life was like long ago.
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History of Dover Museum
The Dover Museum was started in February 1836. Edward Pett Thompson, who was the mayor of Dover, helped create it. At first, it was in the old Guildhall building. A group called the Dover Philosophical Institute ran it.
About 12 years later, the Town Council took over the museum. They built a new home for it in Market Square. This new building also housed the town's market.
During the Second World War, in 1942, the museum was hit by shells from France. Sadly, it lost many of its collections. Almost all of its natural history items were destroyed. What was left was stored in caves and forgotten until 1946. Experts believe only 30% of the museum's items survived the war.
In 1948, a "temporary" museum opened in the Town Hall's basement. This temporary museum actually stayed open for a very long time, until 1991! That year, a brand new museum building opened in Market Square. It had three floors and kept the museum's original Victorian front.
On July 20, 1999, the Queen herself opened a new gallery on the museum's second floor. This special gallery focuses on the incredible Dover Bronze Age Boat. In December 2000, this gallery won a big award for helping us learn more about archaeology.
What You Can See at Dover Museum
The museum has many interesting collections spread across its three floors. Here's a quick look:
- Ground Floor — Archaeology Gallery: This floor takes you back in time. You can explore the history of Dover and the surrounding area. This includes places like Deal and Walmer. You'll see items from prehistoric times up to 1066. There are displays about Roman and Saxon Dover. You can even see a Saxon cemetery from Buckland. The gallery also uses a cool diorama. It shows what Claudius's arrival at Richborough Castle might have looked like. There are also life-size models of a Celt and a Roman. These came from the old White Cliffs Experience next door.
- First Floor — Temporary Exhibition Gallery: This floor often changes. It hosts different special exhibitions throughout the year. You might find new and exciting displays here each time you visit.
- Second Floor:
- History of Dover Town: This part tells the story of Dover from 1066 to today. It covers the Cinque Ports and Dover Castle. You can also see the Victoriana Museum collection here. This collection has art by famous artists like Dame Laura Knight.
- The Dover Bronze Age Boat Gallery: This is a must-see! It features the famous Dover Bronze Age Boat from 2003. You can also see the Langdon Bay hoard displayed here.
The White Cliffs Experience
The White Cliffs Experience was another visitor attraction in Dover. It was right next to Dover Museum. It opened in 1991. Even after some updates, it wasn't as popular as hoped. It closed its doors in 1999. It used to have a "Blitz Experience." This was an audio-visual street scene showing what World War II was like.
The White Cliffs Experience mostly used dioramas and audio-visual shows. It didn't show many actual old artifacts. Even after a redesign, it didn't become a big success. The building where it was is now the Dover Library and Discovery Centre. You can still see some of the old artifacts if you ask the library staff. Many of the models and displays from the White Cliffs Experience are now used in Dover Museum.
The White Cliffs Experience closed for a few reasons. Some local leaders thought it cost too much to run. They also felt it didn't attract enough visitors. When new leaders took over in 1997, they changed how they supported tourism. They wanted to attract businesses instead. Also, the technology used for the shows was getting old. It became too expensive to update. So, they decided to close it down.
See also
- Dubris for Ancient Roman remains
