Eureka! (museum)

Eureka! The National Children's Museum is an interactive educational museum for children in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, with a focus on learning through play. It is run as an educational charity and not-for-profit organisation. Eureka! is based on the North American model of children's museums, aimed at families with children aged 0–11 and encourages hands-on inter-generational learning.

Eureka! The National Children's Museum
Exterior of Eureka!
Established1992
Location53°43′12″N 1°51′18″W
TypeChildren's Museum
Visitors300,000 per annum
DirectorLeigh-Anne Stradeski
Websitewww.eureka.org.uk

History
Eureka! is situated on the now demolished parts of Halifax station seen to the left, the remaining platforms can be seen to the right.

The museum was founded in 1985 by Vivien Duffield. Eureka!'s location was partly inspired by Prince Charles, who opened the museum on 9 July 1992 and was its patron until 2002.[1] It is located on former British Rail land next to Halifax railway station.

The building design was led by Ken Moth of Building Design Partnership, an architectural practice, and the exhibition designs were produced by an in-house team and by design groups who pitched for various elements of the work – co-ordinated by Richard Fowler. Design groups included Imagination (the Me and My Body gallery) and Conran (original gift shop) and individuals included Tim Hunkin (Archimedes) and Satoshi Kitamura (illustrations).

Eureka! celebrated its 25th birthday in 2017 by launching the Eureka! Stories website and opening the Spark Gallery, a flexible exhibition space which launched with the European premiere of the interactive art exhibition digiPlaySpace, created by Toronto International Film Festival.

Galleries

The museum has four main galleries:

  • Spark Gallery – Opened July 2017 as part of the museums 25th anniversary celebrations; it is a flexible exhibition space
  • All About Me – Opened in March 2013; a £2.9 million gallery, lead funded by the Wellcome Trust, exploring the themes of health, well-being and the human body
  • Living and Working Together – A miniature town square (including a bank, fountain, garage and shops) and house
  • SoundSpace – An interactive gallery encouraging children to discover the science of sound and music, with the help of Orby the Alien
  • SoundGarden
  • Desert Discovery
  • The Beach – possibly the largest outdoor sandpit in the North of England.
  • The Wonder Walk – An outdoor sensory trail
gollark: What do you want, a hint saying "HEY USE THIS TOOL TO DO IT"?
gollark: If your response isn't to think "hmm I may try searching the internet to find the answer or a way to do this" then you are an octahedron.
gollark: It's not complicated. Linux coreutils has the `factor` command to uninstall it, and there are a ton of web calculators.
gollark: Orrrrr just uninstall it?
gollark: You can't CLEAR it but you can MODIFY it.

References
  1. "Eureka! History". Eureka!. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  1. Dixon, Rachel (2018-10-13). "20 of the best indoor family activities for half-term". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
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