Museums! They're great! They're full of dinosaurs and mummies! And, at night, when no one's around, they all come to life!

And here's where we can talk about our favourite exhibits in our local museums!

Sheffield City Museum's rubbish. It doesn't have any dinosaurs or mummies and, therefore, barely qualifies as a museum.

The only thing it's got is a polar bear.

And that's stuffed.

Therefore, the polar bear is my favourite exhibit in it.

The city's Millennium Gallery Museum has a giant penknife that has 2020 blades and a new one is added every year.

Can't beat a mummified cat.

The Call of the Wendigo wrote:

The city's Millennium Gallery Museum has a giant penknife that has 2020 blades and a new one is added every year.

Is that one the one that has a sign made out of the blackest ever black?

It does?

I take that this doesn't include art galleries.

That's another thread altogether I suppose.

I'm happy to chat about museum visits in general, but I can't really contribute to the opening question on account of my not having gone to the museum for the last 20 years, and when I did I was in a really stressful, stalkee relationship and would prefer not to recall it.

I do remember being impressed by the Romans' ability to make nice clear blue glass though.

I'm hampered in this thread due to the fact that when I step out of my flat I'm quite literally tripping over museums and art galleries before I've even reached the end of the street.

CT hasn't even chipped in yet, and she virtually lives in the V&A gift shop.

Like Nightjar, I had some difficulty pinning down an exhibit, but I've now settled firmly on 'The William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery' at the V&A. Not only a rich window into history and design. All the sparkling and glinting makes me feel inspired and overwhelmed.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/j/jewellery-at-the-v-and-a/

Not at all local to me, but also in the handful of favourites, is the Temple of Dendur at The Met. I have said before that I think the UK missed a trick by not being involved. Jackie Onassis selected for America from all the choices, and after Dallas, was rewarded with it being reconstructed in a wonderful conservatory wing attached to the northern end of the building. Where it was floodlit at night so it could be viewed from her apartment - so in a roundabout way, definitively local to her.

To shop for your own ancient Egyptian temple makes all other retail therapy seem shabby in comparison. It's an exhibit I've never not felt awed by.

As can be seen here, the slanting angle of the glass wall allowed her to view it from her flat, where it formed a backdrop to her parties and dinners...

If I could beg a further indulgence, these chairs for public use, at the Museo Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, are the most comfortable things I've ever sat on. After a satisfying trip round the excellent and comprehensive collection, a good 1 - 3 hours of relaxation/reflection on one of the chairs before - somehow, with superhuman willpower - tearing yourself away to walk across the park to the modern art museum, is never a day wasted.



Apparently everybody says that, and they've got no intention of selling even one of them. I have asked. They may be local to me one day - Lisbon is high on my list of places to take early retirement while I'm still young enough to enjoy all aspects of life. One day, in my 90's, I wouldn't be at all disappointed to die on one of these chairs during a nap.