Refurbished museum charts the history of 500-year-old Christ's Hospital

More than 300 new exhibits are now on display at the museum which has been in existance since 1994.

Part of a ceiling in the building collapsed in 2019, creating an ideal opportunity to update the displays.

The four-year refurbishment project involved moving over 40,000 artefacts between rooms as each space was repaired.

Much time was also spent fundraising and planning how to showcase the school’s long history. This involved choosing from over 100,000 historic objects to best reflect the stories, themes and facts relating to more than 67,000 students educated at Christ’s Hospital since 1552.

Finally last year, thanks to significant donations from some ‘Old Blue’ benefactors, the school was able to start redecoration work. The new museum gallery is now arranged thematically rather than chronologically, as it was previously, exploring significant themes in Christ’s Hospital’s history – the early years of the school, unique traditions and customs; social history; uniform; moving and building from the school’s old London site to Horsham; wartime; school sport history; the modern era charting the increasing ethnic diversity in the pupil population over the last 50 years; learning and the classroom; music and the Christ’s Hospital Band; and The Royal Mathematical School – its navigation history.

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Museum curator Laura Kidner said: “It has been a huge labour of love, but it’s already starting to fulfil its main objective which is to be at the heart of the school, being used and enjoyed by current Christ’s Hospital students of all ages, Old Blues and the wider community.”