Temporary Museum Closure

In light of government advice regarding Coronavirus we are sorry to announce that from today, 17th March, the Sedgwick Museum will be closed to the public until further notice.  All public events and group visits have been either cancelled or postponed. Our priority is to protect the health and wellbeing of our staff, volunteers and visitors. While we are closed, do please engage with us online, through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

  • Museum entrance
  • Museum steps
  • Downing Street view of Museum

Travel through time…

The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences is the oldest of the University of Cambridge museums, having been established in 1728 as the Woodwardian Museum. Since then the collection has grown from about 10,000 fossils, minerals and rocks, to at least 2 million. A walk through the museum will take you on a 4.5 billion year journey through time, from the meteoritic building blocks of planets, to the thousands of fossils of animals and plants that illustrate the evolution of life in the oceans, on land and in the air. Also a major teaching and research resource in the Department of Earth Sciences, the Sedgwick Museum collections are a national treasure.




Earth stories - Fossil news from around the world 
 

Temporarily closed

Monday to Friday
10:00 to 13:00 & 14:00 to 17:00

Saturday
10:00 to 16:00 

Sunday
Closed




Apr 3, 2020
Objects of wonder in my garden

Sedgwick Museum Conservator, Sarah Wallace-Johnson, writes about working from home and using the opportunity to find fascinating things in nature in our own gardens.
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Mar 7, 2020
Being Seen & Heard – Women in the Sedgwick Museum Archives

Women’s contribution to geological science can be ‘seen and heard’ in the Collections at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, and especially in the Archives.

On Sunday 8th March 2020 it’s International Women’s Day, an opportunity to celebrate women's achievement as well as raising awareness and taking action for equality. The Sedgwick Museum is using this important date in the calendar to talk about its collections from a different narrative, one that is equally valid but not previously visible.

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Mar 7, 2020
New exhibition showcases Deep Earth research at the Sedgwick Museum

Co-created by a team of researchers from the University’s Department of Earth Sciences, Museum staff, and with input from the public, the new exhibition enables visitors to explore inside the deep Earth, and find out more about the people who use earthquakes to understand what happens deep below the Earth’s surface. Turn the pages of a 3D Earth model, make the Earth’s mantle move with playful swells of convection; and trigger seismic waves that ripple throughout the Earth.
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Sedgwick Museum Collections and Research centre


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Support this project

If you would like to discuss how you might contribute to the Sedgwick Museum Collections Store, please contact Professor Richard Harrison, Head of Department.

To make a donation to the Sedgwick Museum Collections Store please visit our online giving page.

Studying Earth Sciences at Cambridge University

Discover more about studying Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge in this video featuring Museum Curator of Mineralogy and Petrology Professor Marian Holness and Sir David Attenborough