Across the UK, museums are embracing the power of iconic objects. A case in point is Dippy the Diplodocus, which had pride of place in the entrance of the Natural History Museum in London before embarking on a UK-wide tour in 2018, which has now surpassed its one millionth visitor. Fittingly, Dippy’s first stop was on the Jurassic Coast at Dorset County Museum.
“People were talking about it like it was the Olympics – there were businesses collaborating, lifelong learning and community spirit,” says Gabriella Crouch, the head of development and communications at the museum. “Previously, some people viewed the museum as not fully accessible. Dippy broke down those barriers and made it welcoming and family-friendly.”
Dippy’s three-month stay provided a boost ahead of the venue’s £15.3m National Lottery Heritage Fund redevelopment, due to complete in summer 2020. “It’s changed our thinking,” Crouch says, because of the chance to trial a free exhibition and rethink attitudes towards revenue.
With over 150,000 visitors arriving to see Dippy – more than treble the museum’s annual figure – the main challenge was managing the crowds. As the smallest venue on the dinosaur’s tour, the Victorian building had to be adapted, toilets borrowed and the library morphed into a cloakroom. In the end, Dippy squeezed in with six inches to spare, and staff even moved the bannisters to create selfie spots.
“We managed Dippy in spite of the building,” Crouch says. “It took over the museum while it was here. That was both a challenge and the magic.”
Sally MacDonald, the director of the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, describes similar issues posed by the arrival of Stephenson’s Rocket, an early steam locomotive, which is on display at the museum. “We had to take the chimney off the locomotive and remove the doors of the building and close down the road,” she says.
The Rocket, originally built to run on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, has extra significance because of the location of the museum at the railway terminus.
“Some visitors are overcome with emotion when they see it here,” MacDonald says. “It’s prompted stories from people with links to the Stephenson family or the railway.”
In 2013, a partnership between five national and regional galleries led to the acquisition of John Constable’s painting Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, c.1830-31. The work was purchased by Tate with assistance from the heritage fund, the Manton Foundation and the Art Fund in partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales), Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service, National Galleries of Scotland and Salisbury Museum. The partner galleries benefited from working closely with each other as the painting toured.
The tour included funding to consider what could be done with the work rather than just displaying it, says Anne Pritchard, the senior curator of historic art at National Museum Wales. The museum used the money to hire a learning trainee for a year. That, and access to Tate training events, helped museum staff further the interpretation around the painting, which resulted in audio tours that have since been incorporated into the rest of the collection.
Drawing similar inspiration from single-object tours is Hannah Crowdy, the head of curatorial at National Museums Northern Ireland. Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is hosting (until 12 May) the British astronaut Tim Peake’s Soyuz TMA-19M capsule. The space pod has led to a boost in visitor numbers at the venue.
“It’s also given us food for thought about how we deliver learning and it was a good team-building exercise,” says Crowdy.
The museum’s design lent itself to the spacecraft’s display, with an elevated walkway entrance giving visitors a view into the capsule. “We are biased, but we think it looks its best here,” says Crowdy.
Hosting iconic objects often leads to this sense of pride, which extends to local towns and communities, empowering people to explore the history of collections and the places they call home.
“People were talking about it like it was the Olympics – there were businesses collaborating, lifelong learning and community spirit,” says Gabriella Crouch, the head of development and communications at the museum. “Previously, some people viewed the museum as not fully accessible. Dippy broke down those barriers and made it welcoming and family-friendly.”
Dippy’s three-month stay provided a boost ahead of the venue’s £15.3m National Lottery Heritage Fund redevelopment, due to complete in summer 2020. “It’s changed our thinking,” Crouch says, because of the chance to trial a free exhibition and rethink attitudes towards revenue.
With over 150,000 visitors arriving to see Dippy – more than treble the museum’s annual figure – the main challenge was managing the crowds. As the smallest venue on the dinosaur’s tour, the Victorian building had to be adapted, toilets borrowed and the library morphed into a cloakroom. In the end, Dippy squeezed in with six inches to spare, and staff even moved the bannisters to create selfie spots.
“We managed Dippy in spite of the building,” Crouch says. “It took over the museum while it was here. That was both a challenge and the magic.”
Sally MacDonald, the director of the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, describes similar issues posed by the arrival of Stephenson’s Rocket, an early steam locomotive, which is on display at the museum. “We had to take the chimney off the locomotive and remove the doors of the building and close down the road,” she says.
The Rocket, originally built to run on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, has extra significance because of the location of the museum at the railway terminus.
“Some visitors are overcome with emotion when they see it here,” MacDonald says. “It’s prompted stories from people with links to the Stephenson family or the railway.”
In 2013, a partnership between five national and regional galleries led to the acquisition of John Constable’s painting Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, c.1830-31. The work was purchased by Tate with assistance from the heritage fund, the Manton Foundation and the Art Fund in partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales), Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service, National Galleries of Scotland and Salisbury Museum. The partner galleries benefited from working closely with each other as the painting toured.
The tour included funding to consider what could be done with the work rather than just displaying it, says Anne Pritchard, the senior curator of historic art at National Museum Wales. The museum used the money to hire a learning trainee for a year. That, and access to Tate training events, helped museum staff further the interpretation around the painting, which resulted in audio tours that have since been incorporated into the rest of the collection.
Drawing similar inspiration from single-object tours is Hannah Crowdy, the head of curatorial at National Museums Northern Ireland. Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is hosting (until 12 May) the British astronaut Tim Peake’s Soyuz TMA-19M capsule. The space pod has led to a boost in visitor numbers at the venue.
“It’s also given us food for thought about how we deliver learning and it was a good team-building exercise,” says Crowdy.
The museum’s design lent itself to the spacecraft’s display, with an elevated walkway entrance giving visitors a view into the capsule. “We are biased, but we think it looks its best here,” says Crowdy.
Hosting iconic objects often leads to this sense of pride, which extends to local towns and communities, empowering people to explore the history of collections and the places they call home.
Catherine Kennedy is a freelance writer