Places to go and see in York #5

Today I visited one of York's premier tourist attractions. My destination was a place which I have not visited before. It was also a place that involves old things, black monks and a shop at the end. Can you guess where it is yet?

Today I visited The Yorkshire Museum, in Museum Gardens, York. Here it is:



In front of it, you can see some stone columns - a sure sign that what is within is worthy and good. You don't see columns outside Burger King or Megabowl. That's because those places are bad for you. There's no culture there. Just youths with bad clothes, bad hair and no prospects. Also outside the museum you can see the lower half of a white bust. I believe that this is part of a collection of sculptures that are currently scattered about the gardens. I assume that the lack of an upper head is a deliberate decision by the sculptor rather than vandalism caused by the youths from Burger King.

The Museum itself has various sections. The initial part contains fairly random things, including a skeleton of a Moa (extinct big flightless bird) and a child's bicycle (I'm not sure which child). After that, there's a lot of bits about the Romans, and York and Yorkshire. York was the second biggest city in the UK back then, except that we didn't have a United Kingdom at the time. Maybe it was just the second biggest in England. Or North England, or maybe it was just the second biggest city in York. I forget.

There are lots of big panels to read containing information and there are also artifacts and pictures. Kind of like most museums, I guess.

After Rome, we move on to the Vikings and then to a bit with William the Conqueror. Then there is a large section about St Mary's Abbey which used to be on the same site as the museum. The remaining parts of the abbey have fallen into a slight state of disrepair now...



It's seen better days. At one point it was the wealthiest Abbey in the North of England. The monks that lived there were Black Monks. I hoped at first that these might have been evil monks but it turns out they were just normal Benedictine Monks with a penchant for black robes. The Abbey was eventually closed in the 16th century when Henry VIII dissolved the monastaries. By the looks of it now, it seems he may have dissolved them with acid.

The main museum ends with a selection of aquatic dinosaurs. And you can go upstairs and look round a pottery exhibition if you have no life.

Outside the museum, you can see another old building which at one point formed part of the Abbey's Hospitium where pilgrims would hang out:



I went to a craft fair there once and bought some soap from a man who sold soap.

Perhaps the best thing about the whole experience was that I was finally able to obtain a discount by using my York Card. Outsiders would normally have to pay four English Pounds to get in but I paid absolutely nothing. Result.

The Yorkshire Museum
Time spent in attraction: 41 minutes
Does it have a bar? No
Fun: 5/10
Suitable for a rainy day? Yes