London Venues Reveal Their Secrets In #MuseumWeek

By Laura Reynolds Last edited 109 months ago

Last Updated 20 March 2015

Laura Reynolds London Venues Reveal Their Secrets In #MuseumWeek

The Horniman Museum Walrus must have a secret or two stashed under those tusks (pssst...he also has his own Twitter account). Photo: psyxjaw

You may think of museums as dusty old places, full of relics, but they've adapted to the 21st Century pretty well — as demonstrated by #MuseumWeek, which uses Twitter to give the public an insight into what goes on behind the scenes.

The #MuseumWeek initiative began in March last year and is back again next week. Staff at museums from across the globe will be tweeting using specific hashtags. There's a different theme everyday, each using its own hashtag, such as #secretsMW (Monday) and #architectureMW (Wednesday). After the revelation that Dippy the diplodocus is a fake, we don't know how many more museum secrets we can take, but we're nosey, so we'll give it a go.

And now for the London bit. You can see on the website all of the venues taking part, (scroll down for United Kingdom). As you'd hope, the London big hitters are all there: @britishmuseum, @ltmuseum, @I_W_M, @sciencemuseum, @V_and_A, @NPGLondon and @NHM_London (whose @Shop_at_NHM and exhibition @NHM_WPY also made the list).

We're chuffed to see some smaller London institutions on the list too, and while there are over 40 to choose from, these are our top 10 if you're looking to keep your Twitter feed fairly uncluttered:

@hornimanmuseum - A museum of natural history, complete with gardens and an aquarium.
@RAFmuseum - Detailing the history of the RAF (with some pretty awesome planes, if you like that kind of thing).
@GrantMuseum - A zoology museum linked to UCL, home to the world's rarest skeleton.
@the_Globe - Shakespeare's theatre down by the river, also home to a Shakespeare museum.
@BenUriGallery - A family friendly art gallery, currently housing an exhibition about Notting Hill Carnival.
@JewishMuseumLDN - Celebrating Jewish heritage and culture, with events open to people of all backgrounds.
@GEFFRYE - A museum about the home, with period rooms dating from 1630 to the present day.
@BexleyHeritage - Account which looks after Tudor mansion Hall Place and Georgian villa Danson House, both in Bexley.
@WMGallery - The only public gallery dedicated entirely to William Morris.
@HRP_Palaces - Charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace.