Yorkshire Museum

Medieval York: Capital of the North

This exciting display showcases the Yorkshire Museum’s permanent collection of the region’s greatest surviving treasures.

See the incredible York Helmet, Gilling Sword and Ormside Bowl. This exhibition also includes other new acquisitions which have never been on public display before and interpretation giving insight into York’s position as capital of the North during the Anglian, Viking and Medieval periods.

The exhibition explores how York became England’s second city and how its fortunes rose and fell with its ties to the Crown and the Church.

As the capital of religion, royal power, commerce, art, conflict and wealth across the Anglian, Viking, Norman, Medieval and Tudor periods, discover how the most powerful people in the world once ruled from within York’s City Walls.

The exhibition is funded by: National Heritage Memorial Fund Art Fund Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund Headley Trust

The Cawood Sword Accepted by HM Government in Lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Yorkshire Museum, 2007.