We’re delighted to announce that the Yorkshire Museum will re-open on Friday 8th April with an exciting new exhibition; The Ryedale Hoard: A Roman Mystery.  

The Ryedale Hoard contains some of Yorkshire’s most significant Roman objects including an 1,800 year old bust of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. For the very first time in Yorkshire, visitors will be able see this exciting new discovery and explore the mystery of who buried the Hoard and why. 

The 13cm bust is part of a collection of bronze objects found by metal detectorists James Spark and Mark Didlick in a field near Ampleforth in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, in May 2020. 

The purchase of the Ryedale Roman Hoard was made possible largely thanks to the generosity of American donor Richard Beleson, with additional funding through Art Fund and a number of individual donors. This enabled York Museums Trust to make the purchase from David Aaron, who originally acquired the hoard at auction. 

Free Online Talks 

Below is our programme of free online talks delivered by a wonderful variety of experts. To get reminders straight to your inbox for the talks, sign up here.

All Expert Lectures start at 4.30pm and are free of charge.

23 May –  Dr Michael Lewis: Treasuring the Past – when is a ‘treasure’ Treasure? Find out more here

21 July – Dr Owen Humphreys: Metals, making and magic: The smith in Roman Britain. Find out more here

29 September – Prof. Martin Millett: The context of the Ryedale hoard in Roman Britain

17 November – Antony Lee: Dead gods? Presenting Romano-British religious experiences in museums

26 January – Adam Parker: Toil and Trouble: Magic, Roman Britain, and the Ryedale Hoard 

16 March – Dr John Pearce: Gods in bronze: the pantheon of Roman Britain and the Portable Antiquities Scheme 

All Curatorial talks start at 5:15pm and are free of charge 

16 June – Up close with The Ryedale Hoard. Find out more here

18 August – Roman Emperors in York 

20 October – Worshipping Mars, the God of War 

15 December – Roman Yorkshire’s metalworkers 

16 February – Living in the Roman Countryside 

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