Westgate Museum, Winchester, England

The Westgate Museum in Winchester, England, was originally part of the walls of medieval Winchester. A good way to defend the city was to treat it like a castle. Winchester originally was a castle back when William the Conqueror made the city his capital. The roots of Winchester go further back in history to the Roman times, when the Roman conquerors built a fort to defend the city of Venta Belgarum. This gate is over one of the older Roman gates.

Westgate

Like many other gates I have seen, there's an entrance for pedestrians and a larger entrance for carriages, wagons, and horse riders.

The entrance to the museum is on the side and up a distressing staircase.

Going up

On the main floor are a variety of exhibits. The first thing we looked at was a spot to sort archeological items, which turned out to be trash people had thrown away like pottery shards, oyster shells, and bits of metal. Going through what was buried indicates what sort of use the area was put to.

Sorting the trash

The gate had a portcullis, the ironwork that dropped down to close the entrance at night and to defend from intruding armies. 

Portcullis chains went here?

Westgate was used for 150 years as a prison, so there are some grim items on display, like this gibbeting iron. After someone was hung, the body would be put on display to rot in public and make people afraid of crime. This particular iron was used for James Aitken (also known as "John/Jack the Painter"). He attempted to burn the docks at Portsmouth during the American War of Independence. 

Gibbeting Iron

Some axes and leg irons are also on display.

More prison items

The prisoners made some graffiti on the walls. Life must have been boring in jail.

Graffiti

The main room has a fire place for cooking year-round and heating in the cold winters.

Fireplace

An audio guide is provided by Alderman Jacob, a former mayor of Winchester who helped restore the gate and turn it into a museum in 1898. 

Alderman Jacob

Some weapons and armor are on display from the English Civil War. Other items include toy weapons (the guns can be filled with a little gun powder to make a bang!) and household items.

Armor and common items

Trying on some of the armor

Helmeted blogger

The stone panel depicting Abraham about to sacrifice his son Isaac was found in Hyde Street. The Bethel family built a mansion with stuff taken from Hyde Abbey when it was destroyed during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. The 17th century mansion itself was demolished in the late 18th century, with this panel winding up on the street. So the panel has been around.

Abraham and Isaac

Another display shows the weights and measures used to make sure merchants would not defraud their customers.

Weights and Measures

The City Champion Costume was more for ceremonial purposes, not for someone to defend the city from invaders. 

City Champion Costume

A small staircase leads to the roof of the gatehouse, which gives views of the city.

Rooftop

View to the great hall

View down High Street

Zoomed shot of High Street

The door is not sized for modern people

The museum is not very big but that was just fine with my kids. The dress-up was fun (that helmet was heavy--real steel!) and views are very nice.

Permanent Exhibit Items from the Walters Art Museum

On our recent visit to the Walters Art Museum, we enjoyed a random selection of the items on permanent display as well as the special exhibits in yesterpost.

The Walters Art Museum

We saw a large wine cooler perfect for drinking with panache. It dates from the early 1800s and was made in England. It's a fun combination of fine and functional art.

A wine cooler!

This 18th-century pitcher and basin was produced at Vincennes, a posh Paris suburb. The turquoise color is blue celeste, a popular and innovative color at the time.

Pitcher and Basin, circa 1755

Another 18th-century French work is L'amour et L'amitie, or Love and Friendship. This particular statue is a 1783 copy by Claude Dijoux, who was authorized by the original sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. The original is in the Louvre and was carved out of marble. This plaster remake was made for Marie Catherine de Brignole, mistress of the prince of Conde, for her estate. The Walters family acquired it in 1914.

L'amour et L'amitie

We saw a fantastic chest that really wanted us to open its drawers, but I am sure the security guards would not understand.

An amazing chest

The museum has plenty of paintings that weren't very interesting to my children. Maybe in later years they will appreciate them. I might even get a closer look at them!

A bright corner

Another room seemed like a treasure trove of exotic specimens, both biological and artificial. Again, we moved through rather quickly.

A good variety of things

Can't open the drawers on this chest

Triptych of the Three Wise Men visiting Baby Jesus

The armor room was more interesting to the boys.

On guard

A good selection of helmets

That same guard from two pictures ago

Yeah, that's a gun shield

The gun shield date from the 1540s and was an experimental weapon developed in Ravenna by Giovanni Battista for King Henry VIII of England. The idea is to combine technologies. The practical problem is that the gun is too heavy to aim without some support, rendering it almost complete ineffective (especially since King Henry wanted his bodyguards to carry them). The royal armory kept some as curiosities.

Adam and Eve make their appearance in this glazed terracotta panel from Florence. It was made to celebrate Pope Leo X's visit in 1515. He was from a local family, the Medicis, and his coat of arms in in the middle on the bottom.

Adam and Eve, 1515

In the medieval section, I found a highly-detailed altarpiece depicting the crucifixion.

Altarpiece

The kids discovered a recreation of a great hall from the medieval period, where nobility would entertain guests. Board games were even part of the entertainment.

A quick game of checkers

On our way out, we saw Armor Fish (a.k.a. Sir Galashad) created in 2001 by Karl Saar. He was inspired by the Walters' armor display and constructed it for the 2001 Fish Out of Water exhibit at the museum. It was whimsical enough to earn a place on regular display near the gift shop.

Armor Fish (a.k.a. Sir Galashad), 2001

The last item we saw on our way out was this Mayan chocolate pot circa 250-550 AD. Back in the day, the Mayans drank their chocolate with honey and chili peppers. The invention of chocolate bars came much later by different people.

Mayan Chocolate Pot

We are sure to visit the museum again to see more of the permanent items and hopefully some new, fun temporary exhibits.

Jorvik Viking Festival 2014, York

We went to the very first day of the 2014 Jorvik Viking Festival in York, England. The town was in the past the Vikings' headquarters in England. The festival includes a lot of lectures and performances but on this day we saw the two main encampments from the Viking period: The Anglo-Saxon camp and the Viking camp.

The Anglo-Saxons were encamped right outside the York Castle Museum and, truth be known, they made a bit of a poor showing. I attribute that to the poor weather (rainy, cold, and windy), the very first day of the festival, and the fact that it's the Viking festival, not the Anglo-Saxon festival. They were still willing to pose for pictures.

Posing for someone else's camera!

Can you have an encampment with only one tent?

Further into the city at Coppergate was the Viking encampment, which was much larger and had a lot more going on.

Approaching the Viking encampment

Another view of the camp

As we approached we saw the armory of the Vikings, including some awesome-looking helmets. I wanted to try one on but the kids wanted to hurry on to the boat.

Headgear 'R Us

Viking boat

L poses

Inside the encampment, the children were too shy to engage the re-enactors. I talked to one fellow who was taking off his armor. He had a plate armor vest over a chain mail shirt. J and I both tried holding up the vest which was rather heavy. The fellow told us to wait as he bowed over and slipped the shirt off. He then handed it to me. I handed it to J who could barely hold it up. He handed it off to L who kept it off the ground long enough for me to take a picture.

J makes the hand off

L with a little off-stage help holds up the shirt that weighed almost as much as her

We also saw a child playing a board game with a Viking, though we were getting too hungry to hang around and find out more about it.

Viking board game

It was a fun visit in spite of the inhospitable weather.