Visit Us
Visiting our museum
The Museum is a modern display space with state-of-the-art facilities, showcasing changing exhibitions of the College’s remarkable and wide-ranging Collections.
It is housed in the refurbished lower floor of a former College chapel. The College recorded its first acquisition in 1609 - a stunning 15th century cope and chasuble commissioned by Henry VII for royal occasions in Westminster Abbey. Since then, the museum collections have expanded significantly and cover a wide variety of periods and cultures.
The Do Room, on the ground floor, contains a permanent exhibition introducing the breadth of the museum, library, and archival collections, and describes the College's history of acquisition over the centuries.
We are proud to house these remarkable collections and you can learn more about these objects by exploring our latest exhibitions below.
For visitors booking to visit the museum, please note the main exhibition gallery and Historic Libraries are on the first floor of a Grade 1 listed building, only accessible via flights of stairs. Visitors with limited mobility should contact before booking to discuss access.
Exhibitions
Relic Exhibition
The virtual showcase, “How bleedeth burning love”: British Jesuit Province’s Relics of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, presents treasured relics belonging to priests and laypeople martyred for their Roman Catholic faith in England and Wales in the 16th and 17th centuries - and canonised by Pope Paul VI on 25 October 1970.
Hot Holy Ladies
The exhibition examines the lives, circles and works of a selection of influential, educated Catholic women who carried out remarkable acts of creativity and subversion spanning the early Tudor pre-Reformation period into the George IV era of Catholic Emancipation.
This exhibition will be available to the public from July 8th 2022.
Academic Research
If you would like to visit Stonyhurst Collections to carry out academic research in the museum, please contact the Curator. If you would like to visit the Archives, please contact the Archives Manager to make an appointment. Click here to contact us.
Schools
Stonyhurst Collections accommodate as many school visits as possible during the academic year and can offer sessions on a range of topics. If you are interested in arranging a visit for your class to Stonyhurst, please contact the Curator.
