The new British Faith Museum will open this October at the historic Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England. After a decade in the making, the museum, which explores how faith has shaped lives and communities in Britain throughout history, will feature over 250 objects from 50 institutions and private collections across England, Scotland, and Wales.
Throughout the museum’s development process, the organising team worked closely with local faith leaders and communities, academic advisors, and museum colleagues.
Auckland Castle is the historic home of the Prince Bishops of Durham. It is one of the most important and best-preserved bishops’ palaces in Europe. The Auckland Project took it over in 2012 with the goal of transforming it into an internationally significant faith, art and heritage destination.
The Faith Museum is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Jerusalem Trust.
Clare Baron is head of exhibitions at the Auckland Project and Sutherland Forsyth is associate director of the Auckland Project. They spoke with blooloop about the new museum and it’s goals.
The Auckland Project
It is, Baron contends, a challenge to develop a museum about an intangible:
“Ultimately, I suppose, the museum is designed to explore the ways in which faith has shaped the history of Britain.”
The Auckland Project is a culture and heritage-led regeneration charity. It operates a range of visitor attractions, all centred around Auckland Castle:
“The Faith Museum is also located on that site,” Baron explains. “But we have a Spanish art gallery, a mining art gallery, and future developments as well. It also includes the Binchester Roman Fort, on the other side of the river. These visitor attractions are a catalyst for driving footfall to the town.
“More broadly, we aim to have a direct impact on people’s lives. Ultimately, we want to make Bishop Auckland a better place to live and to work.”
The origins of the Faith Museum
“It’s an incredible project,” Forsyth says, outlining its origins:
“It all started with this incredible series of paintings by a Spanish artist, Francisco de Zurbarán. They have been hanging in Auckland Castle for about 250 years. The Church of England owned Auckland Castle and all of these paintings. They were looking to sell off these paintings, and a local campaign had started to keep them at the castle. The paintings had an amazing story behind them.”
The paintings comprised a series of thirteen life-sized characters from Genesis: Jacob and His Twelve Sons. In the early eighteenth century, the series was auctioned in the sale of a Jewish merchant. Richard Trevor, the bishop of Durham, bought twelve of the thirteen pictures. He commissioned a copy of the thirteenth, which showed Benjamin, Jacob’s youngest son.
The bishop then rebuilt the Long Dining Room at Auckland Castle to enable the paintings to be displayed to full advantage. He hung them as an assertion of the need for religious and political tolerance and harmony between Jews and Christians in Britain.
The bishop was a strong supporter of The Jewish Naturalisation Act which passed in 1753. It was then repealed after riots and opposition.
“He thought Parliament’s refusal to pass the Act that would have provided emancipation for Jews in this country was scandalous. He thought, ‘Right: if they’re not going to pass it, I’m going to buy these paintings, hang them in the bishop’s palace, and everyone who has to come and sit at this dining table is going to have the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel staring at them.’
“It was a message of religious tolerance. They have been hanging there for hundreds of years.”
Regenerating the town
In 2001, the Church Commissioners voted to sell the paintings. For Bishop’s Auckland, which had been suffering the effects of the closure of the coal mines in the second half of the 20th century, the prospect of losing the paintings was a bleak one:
“It just so happened that the man who became the founder of The Auckland Project, Jonathan Ruffer, has a passion for Spanish art. He read about these paintings, and thought, ‘Well, why should the North of England be losing these masterpieces that have been hanging there for so long?’
“He turned up one rainy day and said, ‘I’ll buy them, but they have to stay in the town.’”
As it transpired, things weren’t quite that easy to resolve:
“He was told that if he bought them, then someone would have to manage the castle to let people come in and see them.”
In the end, Ruffer and his wife Jane bought the whole castle. They put it into a trust, with the aim of using it as a catalyst for regeneration in the town, investing around £150 million in the project.
Local heritage
The Auckland Project strives to work with the grain of the existing heritage:
“However,” Forsyth adds: “It is often pulling out surprising things. Since we had the Spanish paintings hanging there, we thought we might as well set them in a wider context. The Spanish Gallery now has paintings not just by Zurbarán, but by El Greco and Murillo and Velázquez. These are absolutely incredible things, all hanging in this world-class gallery in the marketplace in Bishop Auckland.”
The Mining Art Gallery was donated by two people from the local area who had a collection of mining art. He comments:
“It is an almost unsung form of art that is so important in this area. In terms of the mining industry, we don’t have masses of photographs depicting what life was like underground. Yet we have these artworks created by the miners themselves. So, we created a mining art gallery, which has that collection on permanent display. Another thing we are doing is renovating the gardens.”
As well as the Faith Museum, The Auckland Project has also recently taken on the 18-mile Weardale Railway. This is a heritage railway that runs through the Durham Dales:
“Again, it’s about trying to connect with all the historic industries of this area, the railways and mining, but also the art and the nature. All these things combine.”
Creating a destination
It can be challenge, if you’re outside a big city, to aspire to being a destination, he explains:
“But we now want to have this critical mass where people can say, ‘Not only can we go there once, but we can go back again and again because there’s always something going on there.’ We have a hotel now, so people can make a weekend of it. They can come and do the whole Auckland Project experience. They can pop along one morning, visit our Spanish tapas bar next to the Spanish Gallery, stay over at the hotel, have lunch in our restaurant, and then come back and see some of the other sites.”
The team also has ambitious plans for the future:
“Central to it all is not just the creation of these amazing venues like the Faith Museum, but establishing how they live and thrive and survive in the years to come. We want visitors to come and see this amazing place, then wander down the street and see local shops that have been opened up in one of the historic side streets, little art galleries that have been set up by local businesses, or pop into one of the tea rooms in the marketplace that people have set up since we started this project.”
This, he observes, is what it’s about:
“It’s not only about trying to make this a thriving place for local businesses, which takes a long time. We also want children growing up in Bishop Auckland to take it for granted that they should have masterpieces hanging on the walls in their town, that they can walk through the doors of a palace and feel at home, and that in years to come, when they think about their lives, they won’t just assume they will leave the town and get a job somewhere else.”
Creating the Faith Museum
The Faith Museum, he explains, is a key part of this plan.
“It was one of the earliest ideas. But it has probably taken longer than any element of the project because it’s such a tricky topic to get right. Now we’re finally at that point where we can get it open, so it’s really exciting.”
Clare Baron has been there from the start, and has seen every iteration of the concept over the years. She comments:
“Ultimately, the museum explores the ways in which faith has shaped the communities of Britain. It’s a journey through 6,000 years of British history, and the impact that faith has had on our national story. Each of the objects is a reflection or an expression of faith, of that intangible, offering us a window into individual experiences of faith and, indeed, through our temporary exhibition program and working with contemporary artists, lived experiences of faith today as well.”
The team is working with a wide variety of partners to deliver the exhibition:
“We have over 250 objects which will be on display shortly from 47 lenders, including national institutions,” she adds.
The British Museum, the National Museums of Wales and Scotland and the V&A are all lending artefacts, as are other more regional institutions.
Essential questions
Outlining the journey of deciding what form the Faith Museum would take, Baron says:
“It all stems, as Sutherland said, from the story around the acquisition of the Zurbaráns and the bishop of Durham’s plea for social and religious tolerance. For so many people today, faith isn’t really spoken about. I think many people don’t understand the extent to which faith has shaped our customs and the pattern of life.”
After multiple reworkings, the team have arrived at something that is chrono-thematic. Baron explains:
“There is a backbone that runs throughout the exhibition of a timeline with the aim of providing context, but also to locate visitors in history. But alongside that are thematic displays that offer a deeper exploration of a specific theme that we tease out. Those themes all relate to three central questions which we propose visitors have in their minds as they go around, considering the contemporary resonance of historical objects.”
These questions are: Am I alone? Where do I belong? and How do I live?
“The object may be something that is hundreds of thousands of years old. But what is it about this object that speaks to us today in terms of human experience? A good example of that is the first object that visitors will see, which is on loan from the Bowes Museum. This is a cup and ring-marked stone called the Gainford Stone.
“It’s striking, in that this has nothing to do with survival. We don’t really know much about it, but we know it’s not about surviving day-to-day, eating or drinking. This is somebody who has spent an incredible amount of effort carving geometric circles and patterns into stone. That suggests that there’s something more to life than just surviving. We open with that reflection, posing the question about how we all see our place in the world.”
Faith Museum is not a museum of religion
This touches on something fundamental:
“This isn’t a museum of religion,” Forsyth comments. “This is a museum of faith. It’s about that sense that for some people, faith is a power that they can’t quite identify or the sense that there’s something else there.”
The museum starts from a point, thousands of years ago, when Britain was a multi-faith society:
“We then move through to the period of history which is best documented, which is when Christianity was the dominant faith. We finish where we are now: in a multi-faith society, where Christianity is still the biggest religion in Britain, but all religions have a place in society, and people who do not have a religion or a sense of faith are not excluded from that. Society is – or should be – accepting, whether you have faith or not.”
The museum is not, he stresses, trying to be an encyclopaedia:
“The reality is we could have 10,000 objects in the museum, and someone would still be able to come and say, ‘They didn’t talk about this,’ or ‘Why haven’t they got that?’
“Clare has designed it as a museum that is constantly evolving. We’ve got some objects that are on display for a few months. We’ve got some that are on display for a few years. The goal is that it can keep changing. So, we can add new stories and look at things from different perspectives.”
The impact of faith in the UK
The impact that faith has had across thousands of years shows in the laws and customs of Britain – even in the names of the days of the week:
“That is why we want this to be a living museum. We want to use the programming that we have running alongside the exhibitions as somewhere that we can explore these topics further,” he says. “That is why it has taken a long time for us to develop the museum. At some points, we thought, ‘We have to try and include absolutely everything, every single story.” At other times we thought, ‘Let’s just do the big sweep of history. Let’s just talk about it in a big way.’”
In the end, the team decided to base the museum as far as possible on individual people’s stories. Every object in the museum has its own story, and each has been chosen for a specific reason.
Forsyth comments:
“We’re so grateful to the amazing people who have lent us things for this exhibition. It has enabled us to have things from all across the country. We have things from the north of Scotland all the way down to the south of England, and Wales. As the years go by we’ll be able to add in more stories. It has also enabled us to develop our own collection so that we can have some things that are permanently on display, while other things are constantly changing.”
Programming and storytelling at the Faith Museum
Explaining a bit more about the programming, interpretation and storytelling, Baron says:
“It has been particularly interesting to cite one specific example. The gallery is, broadly speaking, four galleries. The first two galleries take us from deep history through to the year 2000. But that really is only half of the story. Moving upstairs, we explore faith in contemporary Britain through the work of contemporary artists, and through their own voices.”
This, she explains, was an opportunity to bring in a diverse range of voices, and people from different backgrounds across the country:
“But there was one moment where we approached one artist, Rachel Woodman, who works with glass. Somebody who had been acquainted with her said, ‘She holds a strong faith, but that’s not apparent at all from her representing gallery’s website.’
“When she was approached, she just said, ‘Thank you: this is the first opportunity I’ve been given to have a space in which I can discuss my faith.’”
The museum offered her the chance, in short, to contextualise her own work.
“That was, for me, a pivotal moment in terms of wanting to create a safe environment for all of us, any one of us, to discuss openly what faith means to each of us, or, indeed, some of the problems posed in contemporary society today, and provide context for that,” Baron observes:
“The display is an opportunity to stimulate discussion and to begin a conversation with others. We hope that that will translate through into our program of activities on site as a place for a stimulating conversation.”
Engaging local visitors
In the run-up to the opening, the museum held a program of summer activities focusing on engaging local families.
“People have been dropping in, taking part in art activities and creative workshops, and sharing stories,” says Forsyth. “There’s quite a bit of excitement about this finally happening. People are enjoying being able to talk in an open way. Irrespective of whether they have faith, it’s something that is of relevance to people’s lives.
“In so many communities, even for people who don’t have a faith, often the church plays an important role. It’s often the church that will be putting on the minibus to take people somewhere, running a playgroup, or acting as the coordinating point for the food bank. It’s of relevance to people’s lives in a way that can be easy to forget.”
And then there is the faith aspect:
“We are really excited about what we can do as the years progress in terms of our programming. There are lots of core things we can do in terms of talks, lectures and creative workshops. But actually having open spaces where people can talk about ideas and share thoughts is important. A space where no one is being judged, or having to feel awkward.”
Nevertheless, he adds:
“And for those who don’t have a faith, it’s absolutely fine for them to come in and think, ‘That was interesting. I get that.’ One of the key things is we’re not here to try to convert people to a particular faith. It’s about enlightening people, giving everyone the chance to discover amazing stories, to see British history from a different perspective.”
A unique collection at the Faith Museum
The museum’s design incorporates a mixture of different styles of interpretation, says Forsyth.
“We have animation, interactives, and illustration. If you want to read a panel, we’ve got those. But if you’re someone who just wants to go around and think, ‘That’s a really interesting object’, you can tap the screen, and dive deeper. One example is this incredible textile that’s over 500 years old. We wanted to be able to talk about its conservation because a huge amount of work has to go into it.”
“It’s an acquisition to our own collection,” Baron explains. “It’s an altar frontal. But it’s actually a composition of multiple medieval vestments. It’s a survival from before the Reformation, which is incredible. For me, the most powerful story associated with that object is that it was saved and retained by a recusant Catholic family over the centuries. It was used, we believe, in a specific house where it was uncovered in recent years. It had been kept safe despite the penalties associated with practising the Catholic faith.
“Their faith was so strong and important to them that they carefully kept and secreted away this object for centuries.”
Reaching a wider audience
Reaching new audiences is a perennial challenge. Part of the way the team hopes to address this is by building an audience. Forsyth explains:
“This starts off with people who may have an instant interest in the idea, which is great. But actually, we want to get the message out that this is a museum that is not just about faith. It is about the story of Britain but through that prism of faith.
“There will be some people who will have an interest in seeing something exciting or interesting. We want to talk to them. Other people will be passionate about the deeper history, or the more academic side. One way that we want to start getting that message out is through developing the programming around the museum.”
“We are currently looking at a range of different events that we’re going to be rolling out from next year. One, for example, is to bring musicians and have a world music event where we can tease out music inspired by different faiths, and have those coming together and performing as a group. We’re also exploring having speakers who are in the public eye, and who have a passionate faith but maybe never get a chance to talk about it.
“We are also thinking about opportunities to talk about contemporary issues within a historical context. Stories that are of relevance to people’s lives. With those sorts of things, it’s not necessarily that you’ll be getting thousands of people attending a single event. It’s about the message that you can send to people in terms of changing perceptions, and engaging interest, so people come and have a look.”
A journey through the Faith Museum
Concerning the galleries, he says:
“Because we’ve designed the upstairs galleries as temporary exhibition spaces, it gives us a natural opportunity to have a rotating program of different types of exhibitions.”
The building itself is an incredible mix that constitutes interesting staging opportunities:
“The first gallery is a 14th-century vaulted space. This was originally used for prisoners to be kept in. It’s a very strange space.
“The next one is a modern square room. Then you go up to the great high-ceilinged gallery upstairs, which is almost like being in a cathedral. It’s not a religious space, but it has that sense of awe. The final wing, which is upstairs, is back in the 14th century. But you’ve got bright light shining through the windows.
“It’s an amazing, quirky building that enables us to play with and make the museum experience feel different. In reaching different audiences, as well as our exhibition programme, how we use the building is going to be key.”
