More time to explore time

From 2nd April the Sedgwick Museum will be open from 10am – 4pm every Saturday, giving visitors more time at weekends to explore this hidden treasure of the University, in the heart of Cambridge city centre.

Admission to the museum is (as always) free and there will be a series of free, family events throughout the year on Saturdays, starting with a ‘Fabulous Finds Day’ on Saturday 28 May (part of Museums and Galleries Month) – bring your fossils, rocks, minerals and gems to the Museum and have them identified by experts.

Among the thousands of fossils and rocks on display at the museum visitors can see the world’s largest spider, dazzling mineral and gem specimens from around the world, a hippo from Barrington in Cambridgeshire, dinosaurs, meteorites, a giant deer from Ireland and the ever-popular five metre high dinosaur Iguanodon near the main entrance. Other visitor services include a free rock and fossil identification service, books in the gallery, museum trails and free events.

The extended opening (for one year commencing 1st April) has been made possible by an increase in the generous funding allocated by the City Council, to support the museum as free, open and accessible to all.

In January 2003 the Sedgwick Museum carried out a detailed, independent survey of its visitors. Gallery Redevelopment Manager Liz Hide said: “The Sedgwick Museum is committed to making its important collection available to as many people as possible. We’re very grateful to the City Council for recognising the needs of our visitors and for providing us the funding to enable this. We look forward to seeing many new faces through the doors over the coming months.”