Jersey Museum, Jersey, United Kingdom

The Jersey Museum and Art Gallery is located in St Helier. It presents history from 250,000 years ago when the first people arrived in Jersey and continues through the centuries to explore the factors that have shaped this unique island and the people who live there. Find out why Jersey remained loyal to the English Crown despite being so close to France; listen to Jersey-French being spoken; learn about the Island's traditional farming industry and watch fascinating archive footage of the early years of tourism.

On display in the Art Gallery you will find the work of Claude Cahun, recognised worldwide as one of the leading artists of the Surrealist movement. Jersey Museum cares for one of the largest collections of Cahun's work, which comprises photographs, original manuscripts, first editions, books and other personal material. Find out more about Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore.

References:

Jersey Heritage

User Reviews

David and Janet Healey (21 months ago)
Very interesting, giving a good overview of Jersey history. We enjoyed the film of the Jersey story and found the Merchants' House fascinating.

June Haycox (2 years ago)
Had a wonderful day at Jersey Museum. Lots to see. Staff friendly and very helpful.

Ian Pace (2 years ago)
Well presented museum with a mix of audio and video areas alongside the traditional galleries. Great cafe on the ground floor which becomes a restaurant in the evenings. Good video wall showing an aerial tour of the island.

Tim Brown (2 years ago)
A great place to start your visit to Jersey. In the foyer there is a very nice cafe and restaurant. Great cake! There is a film of the landscape of the Island. In a theatre off the foyer there is a very well put together film of the history of Jersey. Well worth seeing. The museum itself covers the history of Jersey and also has an exhibition of 1980s Jersey and Bergerac. Attached is the merchant's house: a very atmospheric interpretation. The whole thing is worth seeing: museum, merchant's house, films, cafe and restaurant.

Martin Oakley (2 years ago)
Regular visitors to the museum when we go to Jersey. The layout and information is superb. The ground floor has changed for us with an excellent aerial photography of the island and better shop. The first floor museum is a brilliant view of the island, occupation years, life at the time and geology. The second floor has a Bergerac exhibition which is fascinating even if you weren't around or a fan of the series. Like all the Jersey Heritage sites on the island they are really well presented.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Dan Lundberg

Historic Site of the week

Hagios Demetrios

The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios, is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988.

The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Repeatedly gutted by fires, the church eventually was reconstructed as a five-aisled basilica in 629–634. This was the surviving form of the church much as it is today. The most important shrine in the city, it was probably larger than the local cathedral. The historic location of the latter is now unknown.

The church had an unusual shrine called the ciborium, a hexagonal, roofed structure at one side of the nave. It was made of or covered with silver. The structure had doors and inside was a couch or bed. Unusually, it did not hold any physical relics of the saint. The ciborium seems to have been a symbolic tomb. It was rebuilt at least once.

The basilica is famous for six extant mosaic panels, dated to the period between the latest reconstruction and the inauguration of the Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730. These mosaics depict St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (called the founders, ktetors) and with children. An inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan Slavic raid in 615.

Thessaloniki became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1430. About 60 years later, during the reign of Bayezid II, the church was converted into a mosque, known as the Kasımiye Camii after the local Ottoman mayor, Cezeri Kasım Pasha. The symbolic tomb however was kept open for Christian veneration. Other magnificent mosaics, recorded as covering the church interior, were lost either during the four centuries when it functioned as a mosque (1493–1912) or in the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 that destroyed much of the city. It also destroyed the roof and upper walls of the church. Black-and-white photographs and good watercolour versions give an idea of the early Byzantine craftsmanship lost during the fire.

Following the Great Fire of 1917, it took decades to restore the church. Tombstones from the city"s Jewish cemetery - destroyed by the Greek and Nazi German authorities - were used as building materials in these restoration efforts in the 1940s. Archeological excavations conducted in the 1930s and 1940s revealed interesting artifacts that may be seen in a museum situated inside the church"s crypt. The excavations also uncovered the ruins of a Roman bath, where St. Demetrius was said to have been held prisoner and executed. A Roman well was also discovered. Scholars believe this is where soldiers dropped the body of St. Demetrius after his execution. After restoration, the church was reconsecrated in 1949.

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