VISITORS to Warrington Museum and Art Gallery this summer will be able to travel the world – without leaving the building.
Around the World, which is now open to the public until Saturday September 10, is a colourful display showcasing a wide range of artefacts, taxidermy and paintings from the museum’s collections.
There are also specially-produced cartoons telling the story of a fictitious Victorian explorer, Stanley Herringbone, who travels the globe, sharing his adventures and discoveries along the way.
The free exhibition, loosely inspired by Jules Verne’s classic novel Around the World in Eighty Days, has been produced by Culture Warrington’s outreach and engagement team, including Roger Jeffery, Hannah White and Mike Roberts.
Roger, exhibition and interpretation officer, said: “We decided to make an exhibition showcasing the museum’s collections, with a narrative thread running through the show.
“Our Victorian character, inspired by famous explorers, decides to travel to all seven continents of the world; unlike in Vern’s novel there is no time limit or bet, he simply wants to explore.
“But Stanley’s a bit of a buffoon and not everything is quite as he expects.”
The exhibition also tells the story of some of the real Victorian explorers including the great David Livingstone and Richard Burton.
They were among the first to hack through the jungle and squelch through swamps into unknown terrain while Victorian society was voraciously reading accounts of their expeditions in the newspapers.
Derek Dick, outreach and engagement manager, said: “Visitors can learn more about these adventures through Stanley, who was so captivated by stories of shrunken heads and cannibal tribes he packed his bags, determined to discover the truth of these tales for himself.
“Armed with a map, a compass, an assortment of scientific instruments and a rather impressive moustache he set forth around the world to seek out the weird and the wonderful.
“This is an engaging and imaginative exhibition which we hope will fascinate and entertain the whole family with items depicting expeditions to far-flung corners of the world like Antarctica and South America.”
The North America display
