Sheffiled Weston Park

Permanent Exhibitions at Weston Park Museum

We pick the highlights of the exhibitions that can be seen any time at this superb museum showcasing the history of Sheffield

Weston Park Museum is the largest and oldest museum in Sheffield and a previous winner of The Guardian’s ‘Family Friendly Museum’ award. Sitting proudly as the focal point of Weston Park, the building has been through several construction and reconstruction projects and is well worth a
visit when in Sheffield.

Its first home was in Weston Hall, to which the gardens that became Weston Park belonged. After the hall was demolished in the 1930s, the museum was moved to the expanded Mappin Art Gallery in the park and became the Sheffield City Museum and Mappin Art Gallery. In this millennium alone, the museum has been through two extensive refurbishments, resulting in what is undoubtedly one of the city’s most prized assets.
Picturing Sheffield
Sheffield has been through many changes, from its reputation as a 19th century home of industry, to its current status as one of the UK’s greenest and most culturally exciting cities. This gallery takes visitors on a visual tour through the city via its representation in art. Among the 60 works on display in the Picturing Sheffield exhibition are pieces by renowned artists such as Godfrey Sykes, Stanley Royle and John Singer Sargent.
What on Earth!
One of the highlights of the museum, especially for younger visitors, is the What on Earth! Gallery, which draws attention to the extinct and endangered species on our planet. Visitors can watch live camera feeds from birds’ nests and bee hives and meet one of the museum’s most famous residents: Spike the woolly rhino. 
Beneath Your Feet
Discover over 500 unearthed treasures from Sheffield’s history in this gallery devoted to archaeology. Artefacts on display include weaponry from Anglo Saxon times and Roman treasure, with films detailing the uncovering and history of some items of particular interest. There’s a chance to experience what it was like to live in an Iron Age roundhouse in the gallery’s detailed replica, as well as some dressing up opportunities. 
Sheffield Life & Times
One of the latest additions to the museum is a fascinating look at the people who have called Sheffield home throughout history. The collection takes in different aspects of life that have been integral to the city’s development. Shopping is represented by the original Cole Brothers sign from the 1960s and the entire interiors of some traditional Sheffield shops. There are programmes from Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday games from days gone by and interactive maps showing how the city has changed through the eras.
Treasures
When the museum collection was first conceived many, many years ago, most of the benefactors and donors were wealthy industrialists from Sheffield. As they travelled around the world, they picked up strange items to bring home and donate to the museum, which accounts for some of the oddities in the Treasures collection. These include an Indian crocodile skull with a grim back story. The crocodile in question was shot while trying to eat Fred Webster, who donated the skull to the museum. When they cut the crocodile open, they discovered jewellery in its stomach, suggesting its intended victim would not have been its first human meal.
Arctic World
There’s possibly only one resident of the museum who is more famous and more loved by younger visitors than Spike, the woolly rhino. That resident is one Snowy, the polar bear. He lives in a new, specially designed home in the Arctic World exhibit, where the kids can also have a crack at igloo building.
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