Exploring Korean culture
A new exhibition, set to open at the British Museum in October, will explore more than two millennia of Korean art and culture, spanning 300 BC to the present day.
Its displays will include both historic and modern objects and artworks – from ceramics and bronze ritual implements to rare Buddhist paintings and examples of pioneering video art – and will examine the peninsula’s artistic heritage, including the contemporary influence of Korean music and film, within its wider historical context.
Korea will run at the British Museum from 1 October 2026 until 31 January 2027; for more details, see http://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/korea.
Wreck rediscoveries
An extensive array of coins and artefacts from a 16th-century shipwreck has gone on public display at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea.
Recently acquired by Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, the collection includes more than 870 gold and silver coins (spanning Elizabethan England, Continental Europe, and North America), ship’s equipment, eating utensils, and personal belongings. The objects were recovered by metal-detectorist Peter Hughes during visits to a beach near Port Talbot between 1996 and 2017, but hints of a historic wreck have been emerging since the 1970s, and the museum already holds a number of previous nautical finds from the site, including a bosun’s whistle and navigational tools.
The objects are all thought to relate to the merchant vessel Ann Francis, which was wrecked at this location in 1583. Its story is told in Tides of Treasure, an exhibition running at the National Waterfront Museum until 26 June 2027. See http://www.museum.wales/swansea/whatson/12967/Tides-of-Treasure for more details.
Developing Durham’s Museum of Archaeology
Visitors to Durham University’s Museum of Archaeology can now explore a new, permanent exhibition tracing more than 1,000 years of local history, from the Anglo-Saxons to the post-medieval period.
Located in Palace Green Library near Durham Cathedral, the museum’s upstairs gallery reopened to the public in June, marking the first stage of a wider redevelopment (supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund) due for competition in July 2027.
The new displays were co-curated with MA Museum and Artefact Studies students at Durham University, working closely with curators. Highlights include an early medieval sword mount; finds relating to Scottish soldiers who were imprisoned at the cathedral in 1650 and whose remains were discovered in a mass grave in 2013 (see CA 308); medieval shoes; and a selection of toys spanning the centuries. See http://www.durham.ac.uk/things-to-do/venues/museum-of-archaeology for more details.
New exhibitions
Scotland’s First Warriors
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Until 16 May 2027
http://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions/scotlands-first-warriors
Marking Time
Stanley Mills, near Perth
Until 27 September 2026
http://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit/all/stanley-mills/whats-on
Tutankhamun: the immersive experience
NEC Campus, Birmingham
Until 13 September 2026
https://tutankhamunexperience.com/birmingham
Burpham Big Dig
Worthing Museum and Art Gallery
Until 17 October 2026
https://wtm.uk/exhibitions/burpham-big-dig
HMS Erebus: from dockyard to discovery
Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre
Until 30 October 2026
https://pdht.org/hms-erebus-from-dockyard-to-discovery/
Excavating the CA archive