News

Dorset County Museum has been successful in its appeal to raise £150,000 pounds to save and display the Dewlish mosaic.
The 1,600-year-old Roman floor panel showing a leopard attacking an antelope was unearthed by a team of archaeologists at Dewlish in 1974. The mosaic, measuring 2m by 2.4m, was discovered in the grounds of Dewlish House and formed part of the flooring of a villa.

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We are excited to announce the publication of two monographs by the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society and will be available to purchase soon.

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Over a year after it was lifted to begin construction for the £16 million re-development of Dorset Museum, this 2^nd century Roman mosaic has been reinstalled in the Museum’s new atrium stairwell. The team involved in this project have celebrated this momentous occasion by recreating a 93-year-old photograph which was taken to mark the first laying of the mosaic in the Museum in 1927.

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Dorset has been awarded a £187,401 Capital Kickstart grant as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund enabling the organisation to push forward with the Tomorrow’s Museum for Dorset project despite the financial challenge caused by the Covid-19 crisis.

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The 1,600-year-old Roman floor panel showing a leopard attacking an antelope was unearthed by archaeologists in Dewlish, Dorset, in 1974. The mosaic, measuring 2m by 2.4m, which is 6.5ft by 8 ft, was discovered in the grounds of Dewlish House and is thought to have formed part of the flooring of a villa. The acquisition will present a perfect opportunity to reunite the new mosaic with the fragment depicting a sea creature procession or Theasos, also found at Dewlish in 1975. This piece, already in the museum’s collection, used to hang on the wall above our reception.

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This month we celebrated 175 years when the concept of building a museum to house all of the treasures of Dorset’s rich history was conceived by a group of forward-thinking individuals.

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Dorset Museum is one of 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support. £257 million of investment has been announced today as part of the very first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.

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The Wessex Museums partnership is pitching in against biodiversity loss. ‘Wildlife in the Red’ is the title of their virtual exhibition. The strapline is ‘Once collectors’ curiosities, now endangered species’ which sums up the story.

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