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What's On at the Oriental Museum

Find out what’s on at the Oriental Museum. From major exhibitions to family friendly craft sessions, lectures and art workshops. You can also find out more about our regular groups and online exhibitions and events.
Group of people at an exhibition

Summer Exhibitions 2025

Creativity is the theme this summer at the Oriental Museum.

Weaving Stories: From Community Hands and Hearts

A vibrant exhibition celebrating the voices of community groups who regularly collaborate with the Oriental Museum
Colourful abstract collage

Enchanted Objects: Adornment and Personal Protection from Amulets to the Mobile Phone

Contemporary artist Dinah Kelly shines a light on the protective powers and symbolism of charms, talismans and amulets
A woman sits on a chair in an artist studio surrounded by artworks

Telling Tales: Making Stories Come to Life

Experience the joy and wonder of storytelling through this exhibition created by our MA Museum and Artefact Studies students.
three carved wooden statues each holding a musical instrument
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Upcoming events

Family Activities: Telling Tales

Saturday 21 June, 2025
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Oriental Museum
Drawing of a storyboard

P'ungmul Music Performance and Family Activities

Saturday 28 June, 2025
12:30 PM to 3:00 PM
Oriental Museum
Traditional Korean drumming performance in gallery

Ride the Wave

Saturday 5 July, 2025
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Oriental Museum
Model Boat

The Path of Kindness

Saturday 12 July, 2025
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Oriental Museum
A wooden carving of the Buddhist figure of Guanyin
Discover more events

Online exhibitions

Explore our collections from home with our online exhibition programme.

Enchanted Treasures: Russian folk art in the Kirill Sokolov collection

From fanciful clay whistles in the shape of animals to gold painted lacquer wares.
Group of three toys, one is a large yellow and blue rooster, and the smaller two are a black horse and a white fantasy creature with two heads.

Taxila in Focus: 100 Years Since Marshall

This exhibition focuses on the ancient site of Taxila, around 32 kilometres from Pakistan’s federal capital, Islamabad.
Half of the image is in black and white, showing the site in the early 20th century. The other half is a colour 21st century image.

Jericho: an Ancient City Revealed

This exhibition centres on the Oriental Museum's collection of objects sent to Durham from Kathleen Kenyon's excavations at Jericho.
Vase excavated from Jericho
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Friends of the Oriental Museum events

Find out more about forthcoming Friends events and lectures including special member’s only experiences.

Join the Friends to receive free admission to the Museum, advance notice of events and exhibitions, invitations to previews of new exhibitions and a discount on purchases from the museum shop, as well as free entry for all these lectures.

Young people sat around a craft table smiling

Regular activities

Explore our regular group activity sessions.

  • Creative Age

    Creative Age is a free, weekly art group for people living with dementia or other long-term health challenges and their carers.

  • Durham Archaeology Explorers

    Our archaeology club for children, meeting monthly at the Oriental Museum as well as trips to local archaeological and heritage sites.
    Child in high-vis jacket taking part in Durham Archaeology Explorers

  • Little Dragons

    Come along to Little Dragons under-fives group and explore the Oriental Museum's fantastic collections and exhibitions.
    Toddler enjoying Little Dragons under-fives session

Creative Age

Creative Age is a free, weekly art group for people living with dementia or other long-term health challenges and their carers.

Durham Archaeology Explorers

Our archaeology club for children, meeting monthly at the Oriental Museum as well as trips to local archaeological and heritage sites.
Child in high-vis jacket taking part in Durham Archaeology Explorers

Little Dragons

Come along to Little Dragons under-fives group and explore the Oriental Museum's fantastic collections and exhibitions.
Toddler enjoying Little Dragons under-fives session
View more

Permanent galleries

Explore the different regions of north Africa and Asia in our galleries, or visit the Silk Roads gallery, which combines works from across our collections.

Ancient Egypt

The Oriental Museum has two galleries dedicated to Ancient Egypt - the Thacker Gallery and the Wolfson Gallery.
View of display cases in the Thacker Gallery of Ancient Egypt with mummy and her coffin in the foreground and other funerary equipment in the display cases behind

China

Our China gallery is named after the distinguished politician and diplomat the Rt. Hon. Malcolm MacDonald.
View along the displays of ceramics in the MacDonald gallery

Himalayas, South Asia and Southeast Asia

Featuring an amazing array of objects ranging in date from 2,500 BCE to the 1960s, including ancient Indus Valley ceramics.
View down the length of the gallery with the Himalayan displays in front and Indian displays behind.

Japan

This gallery has been created in direct response to visitor interest in beauty and diversity of Japanese art and culture.
A man and a boy in a wheelchair look at displays of Japanese samurai weapons and armour, to the sides are displays of Buddhist art and objects relating to the tea ceremony.

Korea

The Korean collection is among the smallest in the Museum, but it is hugely varied and highly unusual in that it includes material from both South and North Korea.
View into the Korea Gallery from across the balcony showing all of the displays.

Silk Roads

Bringing together works from across our collections to tell stories of trade, travel and exchange across the continent of Asia and into Europe, all the way to Durham.
Our magnificent Chinese bed sits at the centre of the new gallery.

  

Past exhibitions

Find out more about our previous exhibitions and art installations.

Visit our Past Exhibitions page to explore more than 20 unique exhibitions.

Two action men in mountaineering gear climbing along a shelf of books.

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