I don't tend to advertise my university, in a knee-jerk way. I think I tell it as (I think) it is: support the place when it deserves it (like on all the unsung efforts they make on access and outreach) and speak out a bit when it takes some pretty wonderful statues out of the library (still think it;s a crime). So you can believe me when I say that there are some truly amazing things on display for the next few months at Two Temple Place, in an exhibition of highlights -- Discoveries -- from various university museums in Cambridge. It's a brilliant display overall.
It is also a great location, as you can see at the top of this post (and worth going for the setting alone). Originally the home of William Waldorf Astor, and built in the late nineteenth century, it's an amazing Victorian extravaganza (a lavish house-cum-strongbox -- there are walk-in rooms that were actually safes). It now includes temporary exhibition space,
And some of the best university treasures of Cambridge are here.
That includes some of our plaster casts of ancient sculpture from the Museum of Classical Archaeology (they probably look even more stunning than they deserve under the spotlights). But there are loads more things to wonder at. I was rather taken by the reconstructed dodo skeleton (seen here in even more splendour than the one in the Natural History Museum) and by the "tinamou" egg collected by Darwin on the Beagle, who actually packed it so tight it cracked (Juppiter nodding), and it was only recently rediscovered by a volunteer in the zoology museum (one of those great museum re-discoveries).
But it is not only science and antiquities. There is a quiet corner where you can come and sit as if you were in Kettle's Yard in Cambridge. And what could be nicer than that?
Anyway it's completely free (as are the museums in Cambridge), and there is a great event and educational programme to match.
So come and enjoy! I really did.