Last week was #MuseumWeek, when museums, galleries and cultural institutions across the world took to Twitter to reveal their secrets. We gave you the lowdown on which London venues were worth a follow. We were watching the action unfold all week, to share with you the most interesting things we learned about London:
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The Tower Of London has joined Twitter (previously having been encompassed under the Historic Royal Palaces account). The first tweet?
1,000 years of history. 140 characters. Hello Twitter!
— The Tower of London (@TowerOfLondon) March 23, 2015
- Meanwhile, we learned that Grant Museum of Zoology's Glass Jar of Moles has its own Twitter account to rival that of the Horniman Museum walrus.
- The Museum of London gift shop sells Thomas Crapper & Co Four-Ply toilet paper.
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Natural History Museum showed us how Horniman Museum experts helped them put together the aquarium together for the new Coral Reefs exhibition:
Want to see exactly how @HornimanMuseum put the aquarium together? Watch the full time-lapse here: https://t.co/34h8oEG5Js #SecretsMW
— NaturalHistoryMuseum (@NHM_London) March 23, 2015
- That Beefeater selfie you took at the Tower of London? Not so original after all.
- There are rumours of a secret tunnel running between Churchill War Rooms and 10 Downing Street. We hate to say we told you so, but...
- What goes on in the judging process for Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition?
- The Transatlantic Telephone Room at Churchill War Rooms was top secret and disguised as the Prime Minister's toilet from the outside:
Transatlantic Telephone Room at #ChurchillWarRooms was top secret & disguised as the PM's toilet outside #MWSecrets pic.twitter.com/F0Qu3KvZjS — Imperial War Museums (@I_W_M) March 23, 2015
- Who was Ben Uri Gallery named after? (Yeah, Ben Uri, obviously, but who was he?)
- There used to be World War II bomb shelters with room for 700 people outside Geffrye Museum.
- Most museums display less than 1% of their collection at any one time (Grant Museum of Zoology does well on 8%).
- The Jewish Museum has chocolates left over from the Boer War. We're lucky if they last more than a week at Londonist HQ.
- Ever wondered how you clean a Harrier jet? Simples:
Two men, one vacuum cleaner and a Harrier jet. Using @googleglass here's how you clean a Harrier: http://t.co/ZnmOMPRmwc #secretsMW — Imperial War Museums (@I_W_M) March 23, 2015
- The Royal Institution is home to Michael Faraday's safety spectacles.
- A pair of Egyptian clappers are the oldest musical instruments in Horniman Museum's collection.
- The Globe is the only public building with a thatched roof, since the Great Fire of London in 1666.
- Natural History Museum's sister branch at Tring is home to the polar bear which inspired Raymond Briggs's children's book, The Bear:
Our iconic polar bear inspired the drawings for Raymond Briggs' "The Bear" #inspirationMW @MuseumWeek pic.twitter.com/bimT97yV19 — NHM at Tring (@NHM_Tring) March 26, 2015
- Last but not least, if you're a fan of the tube roundel, take a look at London Transport Museum's call for roundel inspiration:
The roundel is a design icon and London's logo - share yours with @ltmuseum today using #inspirationMW #MuseumWeek pic.twitter.com/Pbi2b4PBLW — LTMuseum (@ltmuseum) March 26, 2015
Want more museum trivia? See the rudest museum exhibits in London, the most mysterious museum exhibits in London, and our own personal contribution to Museum Week, how many nipples are there in the National Gallery?