Dorset Museum & Art Gallery

13/10/2026

The Portland Dress display has been extended 👗

Originally closing in December, you now have until the end of January 2027 to see this stunning collaborative creation at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery.

Find out more on our website 🔗

📸
The Portland Dress at b-side Festival 2025. Photo: Finnbarr Webster.

10/10/2026

This week our volunteer team has been carefully mounting historic uniforms onto mannequins for Dressed for Duty – The Keep Military Museum’s new exhibition opening next weekend at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery.

Some have required more customised shaping, such as the mannequin for the maternity uniform, which needed extra padding to resemble a figure with a pregnancy bump!

See these uniforms and many more on display from 17 October in our Special Exhibitions Gallery.

Dressed for Duty: Fashion, Function and the British Army, 1800 – 2026
📆 17 October – 13 December 2026
📍 Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1XA
🎟️ Included with Museum entry

This exhibition has been made possible thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

08/10/2026

07/10/2026

Planning your staff Christmas party? Make it memorable – host it in a unique heritage venue.

The Victorian Hall at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery offers the perfect setting for your festive celebration – an elegant, flexible space that accommodates up to 120 guests, with the added benefit of supporting Dorset's cultural heritage.

Why choose the Victorian Hall?

🏛️ A truly distinctive backdrop
Your team will experience an event surrounded by history – from authentic Roman mosaics in the Victorian Hall to our four permanent galleries showcasing Dorset's natural world, archaeology, history, and art.

🥂 Flexible spaces
Configure the room to suit your needs – theatre-style presentations, cabaret dining, or cocktail reception layouts. We'll work with you to create the perfect setup.

🎨 Added cultural value
Extend the experience with access to our world-class collections before or after your event.

🩵 Support Dorset's heritage
As a registered charity, your hire directly supports our work – funding exhibitions, collection conservation, education programmes, and community engagement. You'll be investing in the preservation of Dorset's natural, historical, and cultural future.

To book or discuss your event:
📧 [email protected]
🔗 https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/venue-hire/

06/10/2026

Could you be our new Volunteer Editor? ✍️

We're looking for an organised, detail-focused person to manage all aspects of the annual production of The Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society and any Monographs.

You'll manage submissions, coordinate with contributors, and ensure our publications maintain the highest standards.

Visit our website for the full volunteer role description and details on how to apply (link in comments).

02/10/2026

🚨 OPEN THIS MONTH 🚨

Discover how military uniform shaped fashion and everyday life in the latest temporary exhibition by The Keep Military Museum, hosted at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery.

From scarlet red coats to modern camouflage jackets, military uniforms have always been more than just practical clothing.

In this eye-catching exhibition, explore how uniform design has evolved – from the materials (cotton to Kevlar) to the style – and discover the hidden stories behind the clothes soldiers wore.

Featuring original uniforms from across public and private collections, Dressed for Duty brings together over 200 years of military history in one immersive experience. You’ll see everything from the outrageous to the everyday – all the pieces that reveal how function and fashion have always been intertwined.

This exhibition has been made possible thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Dressed for Duty: Fashion, Function and the British Army, 1800 – 2026
📆 17 October – 13 December 2026
📍 Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1XA
🎟️ Included with Museum entry

30/09/2026

26/09/2026

24/09/2026

This week, we welcomed the team from eyemats Ltd to survey our stunning Victorian Hall floor mosaics.

Eyemats are conservation-grade replica carpets that use high-resolution photography and digital printing to recreate historic or fragile floor surfaces exactly.

Over two days, the Eyemats team photographed our two Roman mosaics in incredible detail. Each mosaic was captured in overlapping metre-squared sections – totalling over 100 individual high-resolution photographs per mosaic. These images are then digitally stitched together to create a composite of the entire floor.

The team will return with a sample of the carpet and use this to colour-match against the original mosaics. Once approved and printed, we’ll have a beautiful, durable replica that protects our Roman mosaics from wear during events in the Victorian Hall while allowing visitors to still experience them.

This work is part of our larger Victorian Hall redevelopment project funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which will transform the space and allow us to display more of our collections. Stay up to date with the project on our website 🔗