What's on in the area

Portsmouth City Museum

Daily

Cost: Free

Hours: Apr-Sep: 10am-5.30pm
Oct-Mar: 10am-5pm

At Portsmouth's City Museum visitors can learn everything they need to know about the history of the city, from the Stone Age to the present day, with audio-visual displays and life-size reconstructions. An exciting new permanent exhibition left by Richard Lancelyn Green explores Sherlock Holmes and the life of his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle.

The audio-visual display leads the visitor through a visual history of the city, passing through Portsdown Hill's chalk tunnels, on to meet a Stone Age man, a woolly rhinoceros and the skeleton of a Saxon warrior.

The Living Portsmouth exhibit features a reconstruction of a 17th-century bedroom, a dockyard worker's kitchen from 1871, a Victorian parlour, a 1930s kitchen and a 1950s living room. There's also a further section, Portsmouth at Play, with local leisure activities, including beach, cinema, football and the dance floor.

Finally, the Fine and Decorative Art Gallery features a wide ranging collection from the 17th century to the present day, including local prints, drawings and paintings. The museum also stages regular temporary exhibitions.

Portsmouth City Museum