Celebrating museums through the ocean, environment and food

By Barry Chandler

Museum Week is an annual event that takes place on social media, with the goal of promoting museums and cultural institutions around the world. They share content on their favourite platforms and organise special events in their venue.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Museum Week which was taking place from June 5 to June 11. The event works like a festival and typically includes a series of themes that cultural institutions can use as inspiration for their activities. This June, it will explore the important theme of the environment - with June 5 being World Environment Day and June 8 being World Oceans Day.

Since 2014 Museum Week has grown to include over 60,000 participants from 100-plus countries. It has become the official international week of museums, backed by UNESCO.

Torquay Museum will be posting content relating to Museum Week on our social media channels. Follow our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to find out more.

Monday June 5 was World Environment Day to help raise awareness of the significance of preserving our planet. You can visit our latest exhibition Six-Legged Superheroes: Insects Saving the Planet which is all about the importance of our tiny neighbours who support healthy ecosystems around the world. The exhibition explores the threats they face and how we can do our bit to try and protect them.

On Wednesday June 7 it was World Food Safety Day, and museums worldwide will be showcasing the cultural, historical, and social significance of food. Torquay Museum has a whole gallery dedicated to food production with our Old Devon Farmhouse Gallery. Here you can experience the material culture of rural life over 150 years ago. This was a very different time before mechanisation and the industrial revolution had really taken hold. The Farmhouse produced food that this region is famous for including clotted cream and would have followed the seasons producing food for local markets. This was a more sustainable way of life and many pieces of machinery or utensils stayed in use for decades.

Thursday June 8 is World Oceans Day. Oceans play a crucial role in our planet's health and our wellbeing. We are only too aware of the importance that the sea plays in the life of our coastal towns, bringing us all health benefits, tourism and the fishing industry. Ancient oceans are also responsible for Torbay’s internationally recognised geology and the Museum displays these amazing Devonian fossils and corals in our Time Ark Gallery. Torbay also owes one of its famous industries to the prehistoric seas which provided the hugely varied range of fossiliferous limestones that were used in the local marble industry. Beautiful examples of inlaid objects and jewellery can be seen in our Marvellous Marble Gallery.

Saturday June 10 is Heritage day. Museums and cultural institutions play a vital role in preserving and sharing these important aspects of human and natural history. Torquay Museum has a Designated Collection of national importance from the many local caves. Torbay can be proud to have one of the most important collections of Ice Age mammals in the UK and of course we are the home of the remains of Britain’s first anatomically modern human.

Museum Week is the perfect time to visit the Museum, we have two temporary exhibitions and galleries full of local heritage wonders.