Reading Museum: A Look Through Past And Present

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Reading Museum

The history of the town of reading is in reading museum which is run by the reading museum service in the beautiful English county of Berkshire. It is situated within the reading town hall and has galleries that describe the history of reading and all its related industries. It also has a gallery of artifacts which were discovered during the excavations of Calleva Atrebatum which is also known as Silchester Roman Town along with related finds of Reading Abbey, copy of Bayeux Tapestry and also an art collection. It was established in the year 1883 and was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897. The principal facade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875.

After the moving of Civic Offices in 1975 out of the Town Hall which was followed by Reading Central Library leaving too in 1985, left only the museum and the concert hall in use. the museum was closed for refurbishing and renewing in1989 and opened in stages from 1993 to 2000.

The Galleries

 

Story of Reading Gallery

This is a proper documentation of the reading’s history that includes its origin as a Saxon settlement in 6th century up till now. The presentations are done orally and have interactive displays along with real objects from different time periods. There is an extensive emphasis on the reading abbey’s history.

 

 

The Silchester Gallery

This gallery features archeological finds from the excavations conducted at the silchester roman town and have explanatory models on the information about the life in a roman town. The excavation was done in 1860s which led to the discovery of various diversified objects including fine glass, jewellery, sculpture, pottery, iron tools, mosaics and coins. A lot of the items from that era are displayed in the gallery. One of the notable item include Silchester eagle that was immortalized by Rosemary Sutcliff in her book "The Eagle of the Ninth" which was first published in 1954. A model of the town can be found in the display and The Silchester Horse and The Damaged Head of Seraphis is also present in the gallery.

  

Atrium

It’s a sitting around a roman pavement mosaic that was from the silchester site where it is thought that 4th century Christian church was located. Two large mosaics from silchester are displayed there. The mosaics are juxtaposed with ceramics of Alan Caigaer-Smith which were produced at his Aldermaston pottery.

  

The Bayeux Gallery

The Bayeux gallery in the museum represents an exact replica of the Bayeux tapestry which was made by 35 women of the leek embroidery society in 1885. It is the only known full size woven copy of the original tapestry. The tapestry is 70 meters long and displays the events of the Norman conquest of England by William, duke of Normandy in 1066. 

  

The Green Space

This gallery through a large display of specimens explain the geology and natural history of the town. The history is explored from 400 million years ago up till now, explaining what used to exist before humans settled on the town of reading and how the landscape and environment has been affected by human activity since the stone age. The gallery displays the animals and plants that existed in the area including the highlighted display of a complete iron age dog skeleton which was excavated at Blewburton Hillfort and a royal red deer stag that was donated by George V from the royal herd at Windsor great park.

  

Other fascinating galleries include The Windows Gallery which displays the variety of sculptures and decorative art, The Sir John Madejski Art Gallery that is the recreation of museum’s original Victorian era art gallery,The Exhibition Gallery and Huntley & Palmers Gallery. A day will be well spent at the reading museum with a lot of attractions and representations that are entertaining as well as knowledgeable for people of all ages. The reading cab service is well versed with the directions of this historic place and can take you there without any worries.

 

 

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