‘Ten Treasures’ will open to the public in a new exhibition space in Christ’s College from Monday 29 June.
The exhibition highlights ten items from the College Archive and Library.
It includes the oldest item in the College Archive - a charter dated 1204 that reconfirms the rights of Gilbert Peche to lands in Bourn, Cambridgeshire, with the seal of King John attached.
The charter’s especial significance lies in the names of four barons who signed it, as they later became part of the Council of Barons formed to ensure that the King upheld the Magna Carta, a charter of liberties drafted to limit the powers of the King and protect the rights of the barons and the Church agreed in 1215.
Also on display are first editions of Paradise Lost, the epic poem composed by alumnus and radical John Milton in 1667, and On the Origin of Species by alumnus and naturalist Charles Darwin in 1859, as well as a medieval Book of Hours.
From the 20th century, visitors will see the Nobel Citation awarded to Lord Alexander Todd, a former Master of Christ’s who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1957.
The new exhibition space is in the oldest part of the College in First Court in a building which was formerly part of the Old Library.
In January 2024 rare medieval wall paintings of badges associated with the Foundress Lady Margaret Beaufort and the Tudor family were discovered in the roof space of this area, but for conservation reasons they remain enclosed in the space above the exhibition room.
Bursar, Michael Parsons said:
“Christ’s prides itself on its openness. People are already able to visit our gardens and grounds, and we are pleased to extend that invitation to our new exhibition space.”
The exhibition will open to the public on a drop-in basis on Mondays from 10-11.30, from Monday 29 June. The exhibition will run until Monday 31 August.
The gardens and grounds are open to the public every day of the week from 09:00-12:00 (the Fellows’ Garden is open Monday to Friday).