The Rotunda is the 2nd oldest purpose-built museum in Britain. Built to the specifications of William Smith – the father of English geology in 1828, the museum has been a focal point for geology and local history enthusiasts ever since.
Following major investments and a two-year re-fit, the museum now encompasses all the interactive technologies demanded of a modern museum. At the same time in the central Rotunda Gallery you will find a remarkable space that explains the Scarborough that existed in Smith’s days as well as some of the characters that populated the town at the time.
The first floor Shell Gallery focuses on research and 21st century developments whilst the Dinosaur Coast Gallery offers bright, colourful and family friendly hands on experience of our coastline and its treasures.
After 4,000 years Gristhorpe Man finally breaks his silence. On Monday 2 August Dr Alan Ogden of the Division of Archaeological Sciences at Bradford University will install a facial reconstruction of the famous Gristhorpe Man Bronze Age skeleton found at Gristhorpe in 1834 that actually talks. This is a first for forensic archaeology and will be available only to visitors to the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough.
