Following the excitement of the Hallaton Helmet making international news on 10 January, staff at Harborough Museum needed to come back down to earth and focus on practical matters.
The new graphic panels relating to the helmet have been installed in the Hallaton Treasure Gallery. A beautiful curved glass fronted case is also sitting empty awaiting its star exhibit. Only three days to go until the public get their first glimpse at our fantastic helmet. We can’t wait!
Hallaton Treasure Gallery
At 9am on Tuesday 10 January the reconstructed Hallaton Helmet was unveiled to the media at the British Museum in London. The reconstructed bowl was displayed alongside two cheekpieces which were found alongside it. Many people who attended the event couldn’t believe how fantastic it looked having only ever seen it previously as hundreds of fragments in the British Museum’s conservation lab. The quote of the day went to Ken Wallace, finder of the Hallaton Treasure, who said he was “gobsmacked” to see it looking like a proper Roman helmet.
Conservator, Marilyn Hockey, (pictured here with the helmet) was joined by colleagues Fleur Shearman and Duygu Çamurcuoglu as photographers clicked and TV cameras rolled. Their ten year conservation project made international headlines the following day. Harborough Museum launch next on Saturday 28 January!
Marilyn Hockey and the Helmet © The Trustees of the British Museum
A magnificent Roman helmet which lay buried in a Leicestershire field for 2000 years then underwent nine years of restoration at the British Museum, is finally coming home for permanent display.
The Hallaton Helmet will be publicly displayed for the first time on Saturday 28 January at Harborough Museum, Market Harborough. It will be reunited with other finds from the Hallaton Treasure which were found alongside it when a native British Iron Age shrine was excavated by the Hallaton Fieldwork Group and University of Leicester Archaeological Services between 2001 and 2004.
The event will be attended by the Leader of Leicestershire County Council, David Parsons, and Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, David Sprason. The new displays will be unveiled at 10.30am by Mrs Jackie Dickinson, Chairman of Leicestershire County Council. Roman soldiers from the Ermine Street Guard, including cavalrymen on horses, will be in Church Square between 11am and 3pm to help celebrate in true Roman style.
The helmet made international news on 10 January when it was unveiled to the media at the British Museum in London. An incredible conservation and restoration programme was undertaken by their conservators Marilyn Hockey, Fleur Shearman and Duygu Çamurcuoglu following Leicestershire County Council’s successful bid for Heritage Lottery Funding to undertake this mammoth task. The project was likened to a 3D jigsaw puzzle made complex by deterioration of the helmet during 2000 years in the soil.
The silver-gilt covered Hallaton Helmet is one of the most splendid Roman helmets ever found anywhere but it isn’t just this magnificence which has caught people’s attention. The mystery of how such a helmet ended up in the possession of the local native British population in the years surrounding the Roman conquest of Britain which began in AD 43 has intrigued experts. The new displays at Harborough Museum will explore theories such as if it was a diplomatic gift to a local tribe by invading Romans or perhaps a spoil of war.
In addition to the permanent helmet displays, a temporary exhibition entitled, Revealing the Hallaton Helmet, will be launched on the same day and run until 7 July. This has been written by the people involved in the helmet’s story since its discovery in 2001. It delves deeper into the British Museum’s conservation work and includes an impressive hands-on display of seven replica Roman helmets for visitors to try on.
David Sprason, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, said: “I urge everyone to go and see this wonderful piece of Leicestershire’s past. It really is a fantastic object which has changed how we view the Roman conquest of Britain. To have an artefact of international importance on our doorstep, displayed in a free, community museum is something of which we can be really proud.”
For further information about the event, please contact Harborough Museum on 01858 821085.
Photo opportunity
Photographers and journalists are invited to the official unveiling at 10am on Saturday, January 28th at Harborough museum, Adam and Eve Street, Market Harborough.
In order to be displayed at Harborough Museum the helmet needed to have any gaps in its surface filled in. This would not only improve its appearance but also make it stronger. Once all fragments of the helmet were located, they were reconstructed temporarily on a head-shaped piece of foam in order to determine the exact shape of the helmet as well as getting the best fit for the joins.
The helmet fragments were joined together using a conservation grade adhesive which is safe for the object in the long term. It will not change colour, become brittle or cause future weakness in the joins. Gaps between the helmet fragments were filled with glass microspheres mixed with a conservation adhesive.
The browguard was attached to the bowl and the helmet took its original form once more.
Helmet browguard © The Trustees of the British Museum
A museum’s resident skeleton has cycled more than 2,000 miles in a bid to pedal the distance of Beijing to London.
However, Snibston Discovery Museum’s resident skeleton, Henry, still needs people to help him complete his year-long challenge before the start of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Now, just over a third of the way into his bone rattling 5,070 mile (or 8,159 km) challenge, visitors’ pedal power has propelled him more than 2,000 miles – “as far” as Kazakhstan.
People who have come along to the Leicestershire County Council-run attraction have been pedalling a short distance on a fixed bicycle which is attached to the model skeleton’s bike to propel it – to help save his knees!
At the Olympics, athletes will compete in cycling and Paralympic cycling (road and track), as well as BMX and mountain biking. Cycling is also one of the disciplines in the triathlon.
One of the aims of the plastic skeleton’s challenge is to encourage people to get on their bikes to get fit, healthy, save money and do their bit for the environment.
David Sprason, County Council Cabinet Member for Museums, said: “People have done a fantastic job in helping Henry get this far.
“However he still needs a helping hand – or legs – to help him make the full 5,070 miles.
“Helping Henry is not only good fun but we hope it will encourage a renewed passion for cycling – and help people burn off some of those festive calories!
“And you never know, by giving our bony friend a hand someone may discover they have what it takes to become the next Chris Hoy or Nicole Cooke!”
People who take part will be able to write their name and distance in a special book which will be kept for posterity.
Visitors who help out Henry will also have a chance to sign a pledge, which will also be published on the Inspire LeicesterShire website, to do something by next summer that upholds the Olympic values of respect, excellence, friendship, determination, courage, inspiration and equality and will have a positive impact on their lives.
Things people have pledged to do include:
The fragments of the Hallaton Helmet’s bowl and neckguard were starting to resemble a helmet shape in Autumn 2011 as the British Museum’s conservation team began to fit them together on a head-shaped piece of foam. Martin Cooper from the Department of Conservation Technologies at National Museums Liverpool was brought in to laser scan the fragments as a record but also to hopefully reveal some of the decorative details on the silver surface.
A wreath made of leaves, possibly laurel or myrtle, can clearly be seen circling the crown of the helmet’s bowl. Wreaths were often symbols of victory in the Roman world so the use of a wreath on this helmet may say something significant about the person who owned it 2000 years ago.
Hallaton Helmet’s bowl and neckguard © National Museums Liverpool
A scrolling leaf pattern can be seen on the neckguard and another design is seen at the very back of the bowl. This latter design only partly survives and experts are not sure what it depicts at present.
Hallaton Helmet's bowl and neckguard © National Museums Liverpool
Harborough Museum
Phone: 01858 821085
Email: HarboroughMuseum@leics.gov.uk
Website: www.leics.gov.uk/HarboroughMuseum
The Hallaton Helmet’s browguard was laser scanned by Martin Cooper from the Department of Conservation Technologies at National Museums Liverpool in Autumn 2011. Martin had already laser scanned the helmet when it was still in the helmet soil block and this had very successfully shown details of the design which could not be easily be seen in photographs or the naked eye.
Laser scan of Helmet © National Museums Liverpool
The scan also provided a fantastic 3D record of this very fragile object without having to physically touch the surface.
Laser scan of Helmet © National Museums Liverpool
Harborough Museum
Phone: 01858 821085
Email: HarboroughMuseum@leics.gov.uk
Website: www.leics.gov.uk/HarboroughMuseum
During Autumn 2011, the conservation team working on the Hallaton Helmet began to mount fragments of the helmet’s bowl and neckguard together on a head shaped piece of foam now that joining pieces had been cleaned and identified. The fragments were held in position by L-shaped pegs stuck into the foam. This was the first time the helmet had looked helmet-shaped for 2000 years!
This process allowed the conservators to see the shapes of missing gaps and allowed them to look for correspondingly shaped fragments. It also helped the team and staff at Harborough Museum imagine how the helmet would look when eventually displayed.
Harborough Museum
Phone: 01858 821085
Email: HarboroughMuseum@leics.gov.uk
Website: www.leics.gov.uk/HarboroughMuseum
Look out for the latest events and activities at Leicestershire County Council’s Snibston Discovery Park when it reopens its doors this weekend.
The museum has been closed for two weeks for staff training, maintenance and a spring clean. It reopens on Saturday, January 14th with a fantastic programme of great value activities for 2012.
Here are just some of the forthcoming events and activities coming up:
14th Jan, 2012 – 11th March, 2012
The Blind Fiddler – Home Entertainment 1806-2012
Inspired by the British masterpiece by David Wilkie of a Coleorton farmhouse kitchen in 1806. Part of the Arts Council-funded Transform project, artist Paul Conneallly explores family home entertainment in 1806 to 2012.
10th March, 2011
A New Age of Discovery
Come along to an exploration into the future story of Snibston. This interactive performance will get you imagining what the future will be like in the year 2100.
24th March, 2011 – 10th June
Drawn to Danger
A visually stunning exhibition exploring the work and experience of five contemporary war artists who have visited and served in Afghanistan.
Exhibition and talks until 13th May
Support and Seduction
Experts uncover the social, industrial and fashion history of underwear.
Event on 13th May
Transport Festival
A fabulous fun-filled celebration of transport through the ages featuring vintage cars and vehicles, plus family activities.
Opening 23rd June
Leicestershire’s Sporting Heroes
Exhibition with the heroes members of the public have nominated.
Meanwhile, if you enjoy water colours, don’t forget to go along and see the annual art show produced by local members of the Ibstock Art Club opening on 14th January. On display in the Community Gallery at Snibston, visitors could be inspired to take up a new hobby and join the group who are always keen to welcome new members.
These are just some of the exhibitions on offer at Snibston. For more information about these and other events and activities, visit: www.snibston.com
One of the most fragile parts of the helmet is its elaborate browguard. This was removed from the helmet soil block and cleaned and stabilised separately from the rest of the helmet. Thick clay encased the front of the browguard and this was painstakingly removed by the British Museum conservator, Marilyn Hockey over many months. Once the clay was fully removed, the head and shoulders of a prominent female figure were revealed. Her dress is Roman looking, with the draped folds of material clearly visible. On either side of her face is a long plait of hair. At the moment it is not clear who this female is supposed to represent but it is likely that she is a goddess or an empress.
The Browguard © The Trustees of the British Museum
The female is flanked on either side by what appear to be lions and perhaps other animals. There are traces of gold leaf surviving on the surface which give some indication of what an impressive and magnificent sight this browguard would have once been.
Harborough Museum
Phone: 01858 821085
Email: HarboroughMuseum@leics.gov.uk
Website: www.leics.gov.uk/HarboroughMuseum
