Norwich Castle Museum
The Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery is an iconic landmark in the city. Superb collections fine art, natural history and archaeology are all inside and visitors can also tour the mighty Norman castle keep and old dungeons. The best collection of work by the Norwich School of Artists is on display here. Their paintings focus on the magnificent landscapes of East Anglia.
Norwich Castle Keep
Norwich Castle’s great Keep is an elevated landmark overlooking the city centre. Constructed by the Normans as a Royal Palace, Norwich Castle Museum & Gallery is accessible via the original Royal Palace entrance through Bigod Arch. A great interactive exhibit for children, The Keep features touch screens and models of what the castle would have looked like. The attraction also has a recreated medieval street and features displays of Norwich Silver and Civic Regalia.
Tours are available deep down in Norwich Castle’s old dungeons exploring the network of medieval cellars. The stories of prisoners and medieval forms of crime and punishment are given due attention. The museum galleries take the visitor of a journey through Norwich history and include galleries on Anglo-Saxon and Viking Norwich, an Egyptian gallery and natural history galleries. Norwich Castle museum has one of the UK’s best collections of Anglo-Saxon artefacts. Not to be missed is the Battlement experience where visitors climb the 62 steps of an old stone staircase to the battlements viewpoint 125 feet above Norwich street level. From here there are spectacular panoramic views of the cityscape.
Art Galleries
An East Anglia hub for best art, The Art Galleries at Norwich Castle Museum & Gallery contain extensive collections of work by the Norwich School of Artists, with the great flat landscapes of the region featuring widely in paintings on display in The Colman Art Galleries. Touch screen exhibits explore the themes and lives of key figures within the Norwich School including John Crome and John Sell Cotman. An exceptional collection of contemporary art also features in the Timothy Gurney Gallery and the museum includes a Victorian Picture Gallery and English Country House Gallery. Special exhibitions here are often in conjunction with London National Galleries and are always innovative and exciting, covering a diverse range of art forms from photography to Renaissance artwork and prized collections of watercolours in Britain.
