Novium Museum to celebrate ten year anniversary

The museum, which is free to visit, will be celebrating with a tenth birthday party on Saturday, July 9.

Over the last decade, the museum has achieved an incredible amount, with headline exhibitions including Tim Peake: An Extraordinary Journey, Mystery Warrior: The North Bersted Man and the most recent Brick Wonders, all of which have attracted tens of thousands of visitors of all ages.

During the anniversary celebrations many historical characters will bring the museum to life throughout the day, with activities including: Meet Brutus, the brave Roman Centurion, a mini-dig with 'Dr Forbes', founder of the original Chichester museum, code breaking with 'Joan Clarke', traditional parlour games with a Victorian teacher, meet an astronaut-in-training and learn about life in space and craft activities and trails.

The celebration comes as part of the Chichester District’s culture spark with museum manager Stephanie Thorndyke saying that the celebrations will ‘bring the museum to life’

Councillor Roy Briscoe, cabinet member for culture and community services, said: "We're incredibly proud of our award-winning museum and what it has achieved over the last ten years, both with and for our community.

"The purpose-built museum has enabled us to tell the story of the Chichester District and its rich heritage better than ever before and meant that we have been able to host an exciting range of temporary and touring exhibitions.

"In 2012, Chichester's museum collection moved from a disused corn mill in Little London to a new, purpose-built museum constructed over the breath-taking remains of Chichester's Roman bath house, becoming The Novium Museum.

"Since then, it has gained national recognition at the Museum and Heritage Awards for its exhibitions, learning programme and events.

"This is a great opportunity to mark this key milestone and to thank our visitors, without whom the last ten years would not have been possible. We hope you'll join us in celebrating."

For more information and to book your free admission to The Novium Museum's tenth birthday party visit https://www.thenovium.org/birthday10

An exhibition celebrating The Novium Museum's 10th anniversary is open until Saturday, September 17.

The exhibition looks back at key moments and exhibitions from the last ten years and prompts visitors to share their own most memorable moments and leave their thoughts on the future of the museum.

For more information about the exhibition visit https://www.thenovium.org/noviumat10

A special tenth anniversary print has also been commissioned thanks to grant funding from an 'Innovate to Generate' grant from South East Museums Development Programme.

Designed by local artist Victoria Oatway of Bobbie Print, the print takes the form of a montage of illustrations of key features of the museum including the bath house, logo and artefacts from the museum's collection, including three objects voted for inclusion by members of the public.

The tenth anniversary print is available to purchase from the museum's shop, both instore and online via The Novium online shop.