Catch up with Vikings and have a laugh at The Beacon, Whitehaven
The Vikings have arrived in Whitehaven with two touring exhibitions from The JORVIK Group, the team behind the award-winning Viking Centre in York.
Discover real-life Viking ‘celebrities’, get up close to Viking skeletons and uncover Norse myths and sagas when they land at The Beacon Museum.
‘Valhalla’ explores life and death in Viking Britain through 1,000-year-old artefacts and a replica Viking burial ship as it would have appeared in a Viking boat-burning funeral. Valhalla unpacks the Norse rites of death and the stories associated with the afterlife in Norse culture.
In the second exhibition, ‘Heroes’, we learn what archaeological evidence can tell us about this heroic age through human remains bearing the battle injuries of a warrior. Heroes is an interactive experience that reveals Norse sagas related to their settling in the UK. Enter a storytelling tent for the full atmospheric experience, which includes smells and all!
Discover the Vikings is suitable for visitors of all ages and runs until Sunday the 29th of September.
Also set to feature are two new exhibitions launching on Saturday the 12th of October. ‘The Golden Age of Satire?’ is a British Museum spotlight loan featuring a collection of original national newspaper illustrations from the Georgian era. This is a time when Whitehaven itself was considered to be at its peak. On Friday the 18th of October, co-curator Ian Hislop will speak at a sold-out event about his take on satire as represented in this collection. Local Georgian-era artefacts that tell Whitehaven’s story from the time of these illustrations will also be on show.
Also on display will be a fascinating mix of seldom-seen objects from within the Beacon Museum collection. ‘Curator’s Choice’ will uncover some of Copeland’s hidden treasures, such as a previously unfeatured 1948 portrait by esteemed west Cumbrian artist John Dalzell Kenworthy of Mrs Elizabeth Dixon, his long-term housekeeper. Other unseen objects will feature, such as a Maori ceremonial cape as well as Neolithic and Bronze Age hand axes and hammers.
Both exhibitions run into early 2020 and will feature a range of accompanying events for all ages.
For more information visit www.thebeacon-whitehaven.co.uk
