The Museum of Antiquities was an archaeological museum at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It opened in 1960 and in 2009 its collections were merged into the Great North Museum: Hancock.

History

The museum was originally opened in 1960, and was jointly run by the

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, the oldest provincial antiquarian society in England, was founded in 1813. It is a registered charity under English law. It has had a long-standing interest in the archaeology of the north-east ...

and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was the main archaeology museum in north east England. It covered the history of the region, especially Hadrian's Wall and the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

period in general. It included a full-scale reconstruction of the 3rd-century temple dedicated to the Roman god

Mithras Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (''yazata'') Mithra, the Roman Mithras is link ...

at Carrawburgh. Overall, the period from early prehistory to the 17th century was covered. The university's memorabilia shop was also located inside. As part of the Great North Museum Project the museum, along with Shefton Museum was moved to the Hancock Museum. On 19 April 2008, the museum closed in preparation for the relocation to the newly renovated Hancock Museum, which reopened in May 2009. The building that housed the Museum of Antiquities was demolished in 2011–12. It dated from the end of the Second World War and had originally been a coke testing station.

Awards

The museum was a finalist for the

Gulbenkian Prize Gulbenkian Prize is a series of prizes awarded annually by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The main Gulbenkian Prize was established in 1976 as the Gulbenkian Science Prize awarded to Portuguese individuals and organizations. Starting 2012, th ...

for Museum of the Year in 2004. The museum was also supported by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

References

External links

Great North Museum
- the successor museum Newcastle University Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Archaeological museums in England Museums established in 1960 University museums in England Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom Defunct museums in England Museums in Newcastle upon Tyne 1960 establishments in England {{UK-museum-stub