Events
Click on the following sections to skip to the area you are interested in:
The Mystery Files (family and school holiday events throughout 2008)
Whistlejacket Race Day (a family fun day on Saturday, 30 August)
Illuminate York (city-wide evening festival featuring spectacular installation in the Museum Gardens)
Astronomy Events (events at the York Observatory and in the museum)
Finds Days (archaeological identification sessions run by the Portable Antiquities Service)
A year of intrigue at the Yorkshire Museum
All year - 2008
Crack the mystery of the Middleham Jewel.....
Murder, bodies, burials and treasure - our museum is full of mysteries waiting to be investigated.
During 2008 we’re inviting visitors to become detectives in our search for the answers to some intriguing (and sometimes gory) mysteries….
Each school holiday there is a new mystery to solve, using clues and information to be discovered around the museum. Examine treasures close-up, consult historical witnesses, speak to experts and use your wit and observational skills to get to the truth.
Chapter One: The Sword (February half-term)
Chapter Two: The Body (Easter)
Chapter Three: The Jewel (Spring half-term)
Chapter Four: The Fossil
23 July - 31 August
When the lights go off at night at the Yorkshire Museum and all the visitors have gone home, the museum comes to life. Lately we have noticed some objects and fossils are not returing to their correct cases and some strange prints have been left outside the museum. Who or what has been breaking the rules and escaping at night? Solve the mystery of 'the night at the museum' in our summer Mystery File. Pick up the clues, interview the suspects and piece together the evidence.
Chapter Five: The Burial
25 October - 2 November
When it’s not school holiday time, there will still be the chance to take a peek into our Cabinet of Curiosities or take our History Mystery trail around the museum - all throughout 2008.
Click here to see our Mystery Object of the Month.
Saturday 30 August
2pm - 4pm
See multicoloured horses race across the Museum Gardens in this fun, free event, celebrating the 'cavalcade of horses' produced during the summer at York Art Gallery during its Stubbs and Whistlejacket in York exhibition (click here for more information about gallery events). There will be the chance to join in fun races, where teams will be given a decorated horse each and then challenged to run with it over a set obstacle course. Or just watch, relax and listen to music from the Kirkbymoorside Brass Band. If you would like to enter a team of four people in advance, email amy.parkinson@ymt.org.uk
Experience York after dark with specially commissioned, site-specific performance and installations across the city. This York-wide festival is in its fourth year and also features special events and late-night openings at York Art Gallery and York St Mary's.
Accendo by Ross Ashton
24 October - 2 November
Dusk until 10pm
The outside of the Yorkshire Museum and the ruins of St Mary's Abbey in Museum Gardens will be illuminated with images in this site-specific installation by projection artist Ross Ashton, with a specially-edited accompanying soundtrack.
Ashton uses images and architecture to allow audiences to see familiar buildings transformed into something new and inspiring and has been associated with past projects including the Queen's Golden Jubilee, the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the MTV European Music Awards and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Click here to see his past work.
In York, he will go back to the museum and abbey's historical roots in science and religion, using images from the museum's collection and archives and looking at how, throughout history, scholars have shone light into the dark spaces of man's ignorance.
Torch-lit Tours of the Yorkshire Museum
24 - 25 October and 27 - 31 October
Tours at 5.30pm, 6.30pm and 7.30pm
An opportunity to see the Yorkshire Museum in a new light. Get close to our collections in a special night-time guided tour of the Roman and Medieval Galleries.
Tickets cost £4 for adults and £2.50 for children and can be booked in advance from York Theatre Royal, or bought on the night at the Yorkshire Museum. Numbers are limited to 20 people per tour.
Observatory opening
27 and 28 October
6 - 9pm
Two special late-night openings for the York Observatory during Illuminate York with the chance to look round the building, see the collections and learn about the history of the building and the telescope.
Sky Tours in the Museum Gardens
29 and 30 October
7pm and 8pm
Visitors will be taken on a tour of the sky from the Museum Gardens. See constellations named after some of the most famous characters from Greek mythology, Pegasus, Perseus and Cassiopeia, and hear the myths associated with them. (These event will depend on weather conditions; a cloudy sky will mean limited visibility).
Astronomy Events
All astronomy events in the York Observatory and Museum Gardens are free (for events in the museum, normal admission charges apply).
Introduction to Astronomy
Tuesdays 2 and 9 December
6pm - 8pm
A fanastic opportunity for adults to have a basic introduction to astronomy with the museum's own astronomer in the oldest working observatory in Yorkshire. Participants should bring their own telescope.
Free, but please book your place by telephoning 01904 650333.
General Observatory opening times
Every Thursday
1pm - 4pm
plus the first and last Saturdays of each month.
11.30am- 2.30pm
Free
Click here for more information on York Observatory and our Astronomy collection.
Finds Days
Every month and across venues in North and East Yorkshire
Bring along your finds and get help and advice with identifying them from our Portable Antiquities Scheme staff. Click here for more dates and more information.