Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne

The north east has great walks, runs and bike rides and it now has a Great North Museum (GNM). But how great is it? The £26m development, which opened in May, has utterly transformed the former Hancock Museum.

The building has been renovated and extended by architect Terry Farrell; the collections have been conserved, and brought together with those of the Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities and Shefton Museum (the Hatton Gallery is now under the GNM umbrella, but remains on its existing site); and the new Hancock is both physically and intellectually more accessible than its predecessor museums.

The approach to the building has been landscaped and opened up to the city centre, and the new museum has free admission, unlike the old Hancock.

All this is indicative of a radical change of attitude. There was a time when the university effectively regarded outsiders' use of its museums as an intrusion. But one of the key drivers of this project has been the promotion of public engagement. Whereas the former Hancock had about 76,500 visits in its last year, the new museum is attracting up to 10,000 a day.

It's not difficult to see why. It is spectacular in a way that so many museums aren't. Its main feature is a bio-wall of the living planet -
a double-storey display of animals (made up of samples of taxidermy, replicas and live exhibits) from desert, tropical, temperate and polar zones.

The museum is named after north-east naturalist John Hancock, and his original giant Japanese spider crab is still there, as is his narwhal tusk. Its very association with scientific rarities, unicorns and mythical stories sums up much of the quality of the museum.

Downstairs, the Hadrian's Wall Gallery contains a wealth of archaeological finds. These include the inscription stone that conclusively proves that the wall was built on the emperor's orders, and the gold Aemelia ring, believed to be one of the earliest Christian artefacts to be found in the UK.

Something for everyone

Fossil Stories includes reconstructions of ancient plants and animals, sometimes shown next to their living descendents. Star exhibits are a full-sized Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, a huge ichthyosaur fossil and tiny live horseshoe crabs. Crystals and gems light up the darkness of the display. Regional prehistory and Anglo-Saxon collections include
a flint blade that is more than 10,000 years old.

Upstairs, Natural Northumbria demonstrates the uniqueness
of the region's flora, fauna and ecology through case studies of
its woodlands, uplands, lowlands and sea and coast. Ancient Egypt features two mummies and loans from the British Museum.

World Cultures includes objects collected from the earliest explorations of the Pacific, which illustrate such universal themes as beliefs and religious practices, identity and belonging, power and authority and status.

The Ancient Greeks display focuses on aspects of Greek life. Among its star exhibits are a set of hoplite armour, including a bronze Corinthian helmet from the 7th century BC, and a marble statuette of Nike, goddess of victory. The Roman Empire display features a huge porphyry foot and one of the most famous coins in the world, a silver denarius of Antony and Cleopatra.

The view from the internal balcony provides other perspectives on the Living Planet, revealing previously concealed features such as the live python and lizard displays. The museum also has a special exhibitions gallery, planetarium, library, play space for under fives, study garden and two cafes.

At a time when most museums are specialist, this one is a welcome change. It also has the ability to serve children (the shop features fossilised dinosaur and turtle poo) at the same time as presenting sophisticated objects, interpretation and resources for intelligent adult visitors.

Rather than fragmenting its apparently disparate displays, the installation provides connections between them. The presence of a couple of wolves edging their way into the archaeological displays provides a segue between the Living Planet and Hadrian's Wall; a tunnel between Ancient Egypt and World Cultures takes you
on a journey from life to death, as narrated by Anubis, god of mummification.

Other aspects of the GNM's operations are similarly imaginative. The Hancock's magical qualities dominate a TV advertising campaign, which plays on the theme of the Night at the Museum films, in which the exhibits come to life. Its press releases were evidently designed to rack up audience expectations, playing on the opposite themes of novelty and familiarity.

They feature the arrivals of the museum's African elephant from Belgium and its T-Rex from Canada, as well as the departure of Sparkie Williams, the celebrity Geordie budgerigar, to the Berlin Festspiele for the opening of Michael Nyman's opera, Sparkie: Cage and Beyond.

The creation of the GNM was only possible as a result of partnership. The Hancock's building and original collections belong to the Natural History Society of Northumbria. These are under lease to the university, as is the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne collection.

The city council provided capital support for the museum and is contributing towards its revenue. Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums manages the whole grouping. Given that partnerships are much vaunted as a model for museums' work in the future, the GNM is exemplary.

The new museum is effectively a contemporary cabinet of curiosities, created through a combination of historic collections, Victorian scholarship, cutting-edge graphic technology, dramatic displays and star attractions.

At a time when there are debates about virtual access to collections and museums losing out to competing forms of entertainment, this museum appears to be increasing the demand for, if not the premium on, authenticity.

Sara Selwood is an independent consultant and author of the Renaissance in the Regions review