Omens & Inspirations at the Herschel Museum of Astronomy

29th March 2011

The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded a grant of £8,100 to the Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath. The grant will enable the museum to open an exciting new temporary exhibition for 2011 and provide a variety of activities for both tourists and the local community. 

The Herschel Museum of Astronomy opens its brand new Caroline Lucretia Gallery at the end of June with Omens and Inspirations, a special exhibition on comets and celebrates the 200^th anniversary of the Great Comet of 1811 particularly as observed by William Herschel.

The exhibition will look at how comets have inspired all areas of the arts from Shakespeare and Tolstoy to Rowlandson and Griesbach; it will include an exciting range of prestigious loans of art and objects from the Science Museum, The Royal Astronomical Society and one of the highlights is the original manuscript of Byron’s epic poem Manfred from the National Library of Scotland.

Comets or hairy stars have for millennia been interpreted as omens of disaster, used by prophets and sibyls to foretell plagues, wars and the death of kings.  Comets have amongst other events heralded the fall of Jerusalem, the murder of Julius Caesar, the Battle of Hastings and Napoleon’s doomed Russian campaign.

The exhibition which runs from June 30^th-December 11^th will be accompanied by a whole range of outreach events from free Star Parties and Solar Observation to a series of five lectures in the Autumn.  The museum will also be taking part in Museums Night, World Heritage Day and locally in B&NES Heritage Open Week.  The Learning Officer will be offering a range of specially designed new workshops on Comets for schools and youth groups and talks for local groups.  There will also be on line activities relating to the exhibition and a brand new Family Trail.