One of Peterborough’s popular visitor attractions has reopened again and there are exciting plans for its future.
Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery in Priestgate is now being run by City Culture Peterborough which has taken over the management from Vivacity.
It’s one of the city’s most historic buildings and attracts thousands of visitors each year but now there are hopes of an extension to the building so that in future it can display the internationally important Must Farm Bronze Age boats currently housed at Flag Fen.
The Museum and Art Gallery will be open to the public from Tuesday-Saturday from 10am-4pm, and on Sundays from 12pm-4pm.
The museum was previously a private house and then became Peterborough’s first hospital. It’s a great day out for the whole family with some amazing tales from its past as well as amazing objects to discover, from prehistoric fossils to Roman artefacts, Victorian surgical equipment and incredible crafts made by prisoners of war. It’s also said to be haunted and is popular with ghost hunters!
Previously under the management of Vivacity, the museum has now been transferred to City Culture Peterborough, part of The City College Peterborough Foundation.
Pat Carrington MBE CEO of City Culture Peterborough, said: “I am delighted and thrilled that we are now able to reopen the Peterborough Museum and to be inviting visitors back for the first time since March. The team at City Culture Peterborough have been preparing for this day and have some great new things for you to see and experience.”
All the Museum galleries will be open, including a new exhibition to celebrate the reopening, ‘Restart Peterborough’, which features art from local artists.
Squires Coffee House will also be reopening with reduced capacity and new social distancing measures in place.
Councillor Steve Allen, cabinet member at Peterborough City Council, said: “We are delighted that the museum is opening once again following Covid-19 and there are exciting plans for its future – including an application for funding to build an extension to the museum which will allow it to house the historic Must Farm boats from Flag Fen. This would allow the city to exhibit them properly, to create an international attraction to boost tourism in the coming years.”
To ensure the safety of visitors, staff and volunteers during their time at the museum, measures have been put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in line with Tier 2 High Alert Covid-19 guidance. You must wear your face coverings inside and follow the one-way system to make sure you can social distance. There will be sanitising facilities available throughout and an increased cleaning regime of the museum and facilities will be in place. Perspex screens have been put up around all tills and contactless sales are available.
There’ll be reduced capacity because of this, including limits on the numbers in each gallery. You may be asked to queue both before entering and while in the building, so that appropriate social distancing can be followed. Unfortunately, Covid-19 restrictions mean that many of the interactive activities have been removed, to reduce touchpoints within the building.
You’ll be asked to give your details on arrival for test and trace purposes. If you are showing any symptoms of Covid-19, please do not visit the museum.
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