Treasures
Peterborough Museum
25 August 2018 – 6 January 2019

A project with Simon Leach Design
HLF-funded
Supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund
Graphic production by Ltd Limited

This exhibition at Peterborough Museum brought together the ‘Treasures’ of Peterborough for the very first time. Coinciding with the 900-year anniversary of Peterborough Cathedral, the exhibition features objects and collections spanning 3500 years, including the Bronze Age Barnack Burial Assemblage (discovered near Peterborough in the 1970s), St Thomas a Becket's casket (which was commissioned by the Abbot of Peterborough before Becket's death in 1194) and rare Medieval manuscripts including the Black Book of Peterborough (12thC–14thC) and the beautifully written and illuminated 14thC Peterborough Bestiary.

The design ‘de-cluttered’ the gallery spaces, opening them up to reveal their original proportions, so that objects could be framed in space within carefully lit compositions. Many of the objects are small and their distinguishing features and details are often hard to see. On the walls surrounding the displays are high-resolution photo reproductions of the key objects, significantly enlarged to show off these smaller details. This necessitated arranging for specialist photography and an intricate attention to detail during the print production stage.