The York Helmet heads for London
Why are regional museums sending their treasures down south?
6 March 2007
Capital stuff... MPs got to handle the most expensive helmet in Europe. Photograph: York Museums Trust
The Yorkshire Museum's new exhibition about scientific dating (Discover the Age of Everything!) is a model of what modern regional museums are supposed to be about - interactive, family-friendly, with loads of buttons to push and a dazzling light show by the design team behind the Kylie Minogue show at the V&A. It is also, according to the new orthodoxy of regional museums, remarkably hands-on: there are lots of friendly facilitators happy to dispense information and white cotton gloves if you fancy giving the exhibits a fondle.
They draw the line, however, at the museum's ultimate treasure - the world's most perfectly preserved example of an Anglo-Saxon helmet, unearthed by a mechanical digger at York's Coppergate site in 1982. This is one item for which the old no-touching rules definitely apply. Unless you happen to be an MP, that is.
Until last week, the York helmet had left the city only once since a warrior, possibly known as Oshere, dropped it some time around AD 775. That was when it travelled to the British Museum for conservation. Yet on February 28, it was packed up and transported to the House of Commons so a select group of MPs and peers could try it out for size.
Travel costs for the helmet, including insurance and a curator who had to remain with it at all times, were more than ?25,000, which is a pretty pricey away day. But it was the star exhibit at the Commons reception designed to boost the funds and the profile of collections in the north of England.
The event attracted more than 70 members, who rifled through an extraordinary bric-a-brac stall. Alongside the helmet was the orange ball from the 1966 World Cup Final (courtesy of the National Football Museum in Preston), a Turner painting, a turtle soup tureen and Kim Philby's confiscated passport from the Leeds archives.
John Healey, financial secretary to the Treasury and host of the event, enthused that the reception provided "a showcase for the cultural treasures that attract people to live, learn and work in the north of England", which sounds just a little patronizing. How many people really say: "Let's move to Leeds - I hear they've got Kim Philby's passport there."
Yet Andrew Morrison, curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum, is convinced that the three days and two sleepless nights guarding the helmet were worthwhile, reporting that as soon the MPs came into the room, they immediately turned into excited little kids, even asking to try it on. Morrison does not readily give in to such requests. The York helmet travels in its own custom-made display case, containing hydrometers that continually monitor humidity levels and atmospheric changes. But having taken a quick reading, Morrison discovered that the temperature and humidity within the case almost precisely matched the atmospheric conditions of the House of Commons dining room. So out it came.
Like many regional institutions, the Yorkshire Museum received a huge boost in 2002 with the Renaissance funding programme, which will have invested ?150m in collections outside the capital by 2008. The Commons reception was a gentle reminder to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in advance of the spending review next year.
The helmet is now safely back at the Yorkshire Museum, hopefully having done its bit to secure the financial future of the institution for the next several years. And you can - if you are absolutely determined - persuade Morrison to take it out. Although you'll need a scientifically valid reason to handle the helmet. And a pair of kid gloves, naturally.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/03/get_your_mitts_on_yorks_ancien.html
