Explore Yorkshire Museum

The Yorkshire Museum houses galleries showcasing some of Britain’s finest archaeological treasures from the city’s Roman, Viking and medieval past as well as a nationally significant natural science collection, some of which is on show in Yorkshire’s Jurassic World!

What you can see:

Richard III: COMING HOME

The world-famous late 16^th century portrait of Richard III will go on display at the Yorkshire Museum as part of a new display, in summer 2021. The loan to the Yorkshire Museum is part of the National Portrait Gallery’s nation-wide COMING HOME project, which sees the Gallery sending portraits of iconic individuals to places they are closely associated with.

Yorkshire’s Jurassic World

Take an epic journey back through 150 million years of Yorkshire to discover lost giants and the changing worlds they inhabited in this award-winning exhibition.

From the depths of the deepest seas to the ancient coasts and tropical shallows, meet the dinosaurs and sea monsters that once roamed our vast and ever-changing landscapes. Experience each Jurassic world as the colossal creatures and their surroundings are brought to life using the latest research and ground-breaking technology.

Medieval York: Capital of the North

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.

Roman York: Meet The People of The Empire

Our journey to Roman York, or Eboracum, starts with a look at the full glory of the Roman Empire at the height of its power in our Central Hall.

A huge floor map shows the extent of the Empire, images of mosaics and frescoes decorate the walls and a mighty statue of Mars, the God of War, dominates the space.

Many of the treasures in this gallery were collected by historians in the 1800s, fascinated by the Classical Roman and Greek worlds, and the classical-style columns of the museum’s Central Hall provide the perfect backdrop. You can also meet some of the citizens of Roman York in our interactive video screen – you’ll see their bones later on!

Ritual or Disguise: The Star Carr Headdress

This ‘Spotlight’ display features four headdresses never seen in public before together with new research by the University of York. This will reveal interesting new findings about the frontlets and reignite the questions of why they were made and what this tells us about the lives of the people of Yorkshire 11,000 years ago.

This display also includes the Star Carr pendant; found in 2015, this 11,000 year old engraved shale pendant was discovered by archaeologists during excavations at the Early Mesolithic site at Star Carr in North Yorkshire. Engraved motifs on Mesolithic pendants are extremely rare and no other engraved pendants made of shale are known in Europe.