Manx Museum displays unseen objects to mark centenary

An exhibition marking 100 years of the Manx Museum has been unveiled by Manx National Heritage.

More than 150 objects from the museum's collections make up the display, with some on show for the first time.

Visitors can see a record player that belonged to Maurice Gibb from the Bee Gees and the oldest surviving Manx motor car.

Curator Katie King said the "kaleidoscope" of treasures and every day objects told the island's story.

Most of the objects "haven't been on display for a very long time, or have never been on public display before", she added.

A record player once owned by Maurice Gibb from the Bee Gees is also on display

The Renault 8 on show was one of the first motorcars to be registered on the Isle of Man, and still holds the MN12 registration number it was issued.

The car's engine has been conserved and partially restored for the exhibition.

The donors of Maurice Gibb's record player were friends with the singer when he lived in the island in the late 1970s.

When the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever revived the band's fortunes, he left for good and gave it away.

The exhibition shows new items collected during the pandemic

The year-long Museum 100 exhibition also includes modern history like photographs from the Black Lives Matter protest and a t-shirt from the coronavirus pandemic.

Reflecting on the anniversary, Ms King said building a collection of artefacts connected to the people of the Isle of Man was "revolutionary" when the Douglas attraction was opened in 1922.

"Whilst museums across the water were collecting antiquities and curios from far-off lands, the Manx Museum was collecting everyday objects belonging to ordinary people," she said.

That had created "an extraordinary collection of artefacts and archives that help tell the story of the Isle of Man and its people", she added.