I’ve always been a fan of museums, more specifically free ones. It’s not just because I’m saving money but I’ve always felt that the free ones have never felt the need to oversell their wares. Pretty much every museum in Cambridge is free, and they’re all magnificent for it. The museums and art galleries of Adelaide were also free and very good. Last week I went to Windsor Castle, paid £20, passed two souvenir shops before entering the first interior walk and wasn’t allowed to take any photos. I suspect this is more to prevent devaluing their guide books rather than “damage due to flash photography” as there was enough artificial light to do that job just fine, but it just made the experience feel a little cheap.
This isn’t a rant though, it’s an appreciation of the Fitzwilliam Museum. Located on King’s Parade and seemingly always in a state of constant renovation, the building is spectacular. You can’t take rucksacks with you (partly I think to stop easy stealing, but more importantly to stop turning rucksack users from knocking over priceless artefacts), but they do provide lockers to store them in and tokens if you’re short of a pound coin. There’s a coffee shop too, but I’ve never been.
There are a number of permanent and temporary exhibitions. Among the more permanent fixtures are the medieval armour and weapon displays and the Egyptian artefacts. Also located on the ground floor are the selection of crockery and busts.
Upstairs are the very permanent tapestries, paintings, stone Carvings and art pieces. Upstairs the building is much more spectacular, unfortunately on this occasion, a lot of it was closed.
