Eureka! (museum)

Eureka! The National Children's Museum

The Entrance to Eureka!
Established 1992
Location 53°43′12″N 1°51′18″W / 53.72000°N 1.85500°W / 53.72000; -1.85500Coordinates: 53°43′12″N 1°51′18″W / 53.72000°N 1.85500°W / 53.72000; -1.85500
Type Children's Museum
Director Leigh-Anne Stradeski
Website www.eureka.org.uk

Eureka! The National Children's Museum is an interactive educational museum for children in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, with a focus on learning through play. It is run as an educational charity and not-for-profit organisation. Eureka! is based on the North American model of children’s museums, aimed at families with children aged 0–11 and encourages hands-on inter-generational learning.

History

Eureka! is situated on the now demolished parts of Halifax station seen to the left, the remaining platforms can be seen to the right.

Dame Vivien Duffield, Chair of the Clore Duffield Foundation, was inspired by the children's museums that she saw during visits to the USA. Back at home she pursued her idea to create the UK’s very own children’s museum, and The Museum for Children was formally constituted as a registered charity in 1985. Dame Vivien remains Eureka!’s Life President.

Eureka!'s location was partly inspired by Prince Charles, who opened the museum on 9 July 1992 and subsequently become its Patron until 2002.[1] It is located on former British Rail land next to Halifax railway station.

The building design was led by Ken Moth of Building Design Partnership, an international architectural practice, and the exhibition designs were produced by an in-house team and by design groups who pitched for various elements of the work – co-ordinated by Richard Fowler. Design groups included Imagination (the Me and My Body gallery) and Conran (original gift shop) and individuals included Tim Hunkin (Archimedes) and Satoshi Kitamura (illustrations).

Eureka! celebrated its 20th birthday in 2012 by launching Play 20 - an online resource providing play ideas and campaign to get parents, carers and their children playing together.

Galleries

The museum has four main galleries:

The museum also has two galleries aimed at the under-fives:

The grounds of Eureka! include:

Projects

References

  1. ↑ "Eureka! History". Eureka!. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
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