In June 2012 the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded Salisbury Museum a grant of nearly £1.8 million towards the development of the new Wessex Gallery of archaeology. The total costs of the new gallery was £2.4 million – with the remaining funds raised through donations and grants from trusts and foundations.
This new gallery is of international importance, telling the story of Salisbury and the surrounding area from prehistoric times to the Norman Conquest. It shows why Salisbury has a unique place in the region’s and nation’s history. The museum’s collections include some of the most important archaeological finds outside a national museum in Britain, including artefacts from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, the Pitt-Rivers Wessex Collection and the Amesbury Archer. The gallery places the story of Stonehenge within its wider chronological and regional context.
The new gallery also helps to open up the prehistoric heritage of the area to a wider range of visitors, particularly young people and families. It is accompanied by a wide range of outreach and education activities that takes the story of the Salisbury out into the wider community.
The gallery replaces the old Stonehenge, Pitt-Rivers and Early Man galleries which closed to the public in May 2013.
Salisbury Museum is very grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund and for the major grants received from the Linbury Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, English Heritage, DCMS/Wolfson Fund, Designation Development Fund, Charles Hayward Foundation, Cleansing Service Group Limited (CSG), Galanthus Trust, Michael Marks Charitable Trust, the Ernest Cook Trust and many individual donations.
