Welcome to the Museum of Antiquities’ new blog! This is our inaugural post. Thank you for checking us out!
As 2014 has now come to a close, we look back at the year in which the Museum’s collection turned 40. We take the opportunity to reflect on the Museum’s history and think about what we will strive toward in the future.
As 2014 has now come to a close, we look back at the year in which the Museum’s collection turned 40. We take the opportunity to reflect on the Museum’s history and think about what we will strive toward in the future.
We celebrated our 40th anniversary on October 16th, 2014 with a presentation in Convocation Hall and a reception in the Museum’s gallery. Brent Nelson, Tracene Harvey, Dean Peter Stoicheff and President Gordon Barnhart spoke about the history of the Museum and its impact on the University, the students who have passed through the volunteer program, as well as the world of cast collections. We also unveiled our new acquisition: a replica bust of the Augustus Bevilacqua from the Atelier Moulages du Louvre workshop, which we were able to purchase thanks to the generosity of donors and supporters. The event was well attended and enjoyed by all.
The Museum of Antiquities’ collection was formed in 1974 thanks to the Museum’s founders Michael Swan and Nicholas Gyenes, both professors at the University of Saskatchewan. The collection began as a group of full-scale replicas of Greek Sculpture, which were purchased from the Atelier de Moulages du Louvre. The collection found a permanent home in 1981 in the Murray Library and the Museum of Antiquities was born. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Museum’s collection has grown over the years to include both replica and original sculptures and artifacts. The Museum’s collection outgrew its space in the Murray Library and in 2005, the Museum moved into the current gallery space in the College Building, recently renamed the Peter MacKinnon
Building.
Building.
The last few years at the Museum of Antiquities have seen a considerable amount of growth in many aspects. Our visitor numbers have increased on average by 2,000 people every year since 2011. Our Living History Summer Camps for kids has grown, both in weeks offered and in participants. We have had so much great feedback from the community regarding our existing programming that we decided to branch out and create more programming, which expands to reach new facets of our local community. We now have monthly drop-in craft and story programs for kids and our annual medieval festival for Culture Days has been very popular. We are reaching out to our on-campus community as well, developing workshops and tours that will expand on the learning done in the classroom. Follow this blog for more updates on our programming!
So what does the future hold for the Museum of Antiquities? We hope to take all of the momentum we’ve been building up over these past few years and keep moving forward! With growing interest and participation from the on-campus community, as well as the community at large we plan on continuing to bring the same exciting take on ancient and medieval history you all know and love. Stay tuned for more events, activities, tours, research and exciting new exhibits to come. The future for the Museum of Antiquities can be as bright as we want it to be, so keep an eye on us and what we have on offer in the years to come!
- Blog post by Courtney Tuck
- Blog post by Courtney Tuck
