Today we visited the Museum of Classical Archaeology in Cambridge. It resides in Sedgwick Avenue part of the Classics department of Cambridge university. It is a little off the beaten track just beside Darwin College. It is fifteen minutes walk or so away from the rest of the university museums. But only five ten minutes away from the market at city centre.
The building itself is classic 1970's-80's architecture and has an old polytechnic feel of college about it. It is a very nice establishment and the cosy feel of it adds to the nature of this small museum site. The unprepossessing state of the building adds to the warmth and welcoming culture that the museum fosters. They hold regular opens for children and there are plenty of chairs laid out for anyone wishing to sketch or other forms of art, which is encouraged, to be used. Another welcome change to a museum is the permission to take photos. To be fair it is understandable in a lot of museums but due to the fact that the material can't be damaged by flashes it is possible. The staff, one of which was present was very warm and helpful. And to be honest it is a great environment to come in sit down and enjoy the paper early in the morning surrounded by fantastic cultural backdrop.
On to the contents, which some would argue is the whole point. It is a museum of sculpture, all of which are replicas, if not all. All of which being of the classical periods. There are works from Greece and Rome. Most of the works are plaster-cast replicas but some are also Bronze casts as well as a single wooden scale model or a trireme. In total there are four hundred and fifty casts in the purpose built gallery. Some of the highlights include the Farnese Heracles, the Sounion Kouros and Olympia Pediment.
This is one of the last museums we have yet seen in Cambridge and it is well worth a view as it has a nice cosy and warm, personal atmosphere. The unpretentious nature allows relaxed easy viewing for all. It is predominantly for most people an museum for art, those classical scholars - such as Zoe - will enjoy the history as well as buffs on mythology, such as myself, will particularly enjoy seeing visual representatives of those myths. The single room is decorated in nice warm bright colours, has very good lighting, is a warm building and a very clean museum. The museum is jam-packed with exhibits without anything else, other than chairs, so this spartan nature helps, in our opinion, to further enjoy without any hindrance the works themselves.
It is particularly nice to see large works of a culture, such as can be seen within the downstairs of the BM, here in a way that visiting and local people can enjoy the works of the Classical world without having to travel. Yes all of the pieces are replicas but a lot of people will be unable to travel and see all of these pieces together, here they can!
On speaking of the BM it is important to note that while Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology is smaller and contains replicas, it does clearly label and denoted every object within for its name, period, subject matter and sometimes additional notes. This is a fantastic and basic requirement for a good museum this is sadly lacking too often, in particular amongst a lot of the larger museums, that we tolerate!
On a small aside, it is a small establishment and there are no refreshment facilities, disabled / pram access is more difficult than other places and the toilets are part of the college building.
The entire catalogue of casts can be found here.
Details for the Museum are as follows:
| Address | Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA |
| Website | http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/ark.html |
| jd125@cam.ac.uk | |
| Telephone | 01223 335153 |
| Fax | 01223 335409 |
| Monday – Friday Saturday Sunday | 10am – 5pm 10am – 1pm Closed |
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