Norwich castle: Repairs to 19th century polar bear

The taxidermy polar bear is due to be repaired at the end of the school holidays by the NMS internal conservators

Work is due to begin to repair a stuffed polar bear after it was damaged while being moved around a museum.

The 19th Century taxidermy exhibit in Norwich's Castle Museum is one of 11 items that have been damaged over the last three years in Norfolk Museums.

A Norfolk Museum's Service (NMS) spokesperson said the bear remains on display at the moment.

They said: "NMS takes great care of its collections and damage to objects in our care is rare."

Repairs to the bear, which is about 9ft (2m) tall, would be carried out by the NMS's conservation team at the end of the school holidays "due to the popular nature of this exhibit".

They said: "A small section of the internal metal wire armature, which runs through the leg and paw, has become dislodged from the front paw but is still attached, and there is no danger of the paw falling off."

This is the second time the bear has needed attention after it was put into a freezer last year to try and kill off a clothes moth infestation.

The bear is one of eleven other items across Norfolk Museums to need repairs including paintings, china cups and a wooden dining chair

A freedom of information request to Norfolk County Council revealed that four items at Norwich Castle Museum were damaged, five at Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse near Dereham, one at the Ancient House Museum in Thetford and another at County Hall in Norwich.

Two of the oldest items included a "Suffolk-type chair" which had been damaged by woodworm and being sat on by visitors, and an oil painting by J Stark with a broken frame - both from the 19th Century.

Other artwork waiting to be repaired included a drawing by Frederick Jackson from 1866 and a painting by Mia Brown called Girl Fishing from about 1918 which were water-damaged in May and July.

At Gressenhall, a small engraved stemmed glass, a wooden dining chair and a small china cup were all damaged and broken, whereas a painting of The Right Honourable Ailwyn Edward Fellowes, first Baron Ailwyn of Honingham, by Oswald Hornby Joseph Birley, that was hung in County Hall, was scratched.

The NMS spokesperson said: "We have specialist teams of curators who care for our collections across the service, whether they are on display or in store."