Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Biosphere 2 campus (2016)
Biosphere 2: How Volunteers Survived for 2 Years in an Airtight Habitat
Places like Forest Grove linger on the edge of wilderness and civilization.
Listening for Echoes of the Forest Grove Sound
Longwood House, where Napoleon Bonaparte spent his final years.
The Longwood House: Napoleon Bonaparte’s Beautiful Prison
 Fenway Park at night
How Was Your First Trip With Your Significant Other?

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United Kingdom England Canterbury Beaney House of Art and Knowledge

Beaney House of Art and Knowledge

A wonderfully eccentric Victorian-era museum and library.

Canterbury, England

Added By
Mictlān Tēcutli
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
Beaney House of Art and Knowledge exterior.   Geni/cc by-sa 4.0
Strange Greco-Roman artifacts and desiccated butterflies.   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Ancient Greek relief.   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
A taxidermy specimen of a loon bird.   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Muskrat and a weasel hanging out.   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Taxidermy of a Chinese pangolin in the curiosity cabinet.   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Sketch by World War II-era artist, “Gas mask drill at school.”   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
A duck billed platypus taxidermy specimen   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Wooden toy ark, with animals. Photo taken Sep 2022   Gavin / Atlas Obscura User
Natural history display   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
A rare resplendant quetzal and a common duck peeping up below   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
A South American/ Andean bird known as the “cock of the rock” or the “Tunki”   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Egyptian artifacts on display at the Beaney   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
19th century taxidermy of an echidna (Australian egg laying primitive mammal)   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
19th century taxidermy lion skin   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Beaney House of Art and Knowledge   Jaszmina Szendrey / Atlas Obscura User
View of one of the natural history curiosity cabinets   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Egyptian artifacts   Monsieur Mictlan / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

The Canterbury building that houses the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge has a distinctively gothic air, contrasting sharply with the more modern structures that surround it. Walk up the winding staircase to the floor above the library and the atmosphere gets even more eccentric. A large sign near the entrance reads, "This collection has been filled by global travelers and is formed from the finds of mercenaries and missionaries, soldiers and diplomats, artists and writers."   

The Beaney museum has a sizeable collection of Victorian taxidermy with some intriguing specimens of strange and rare creatures. In a wonderful curiosity cabinet you'll see specimens of the Chinese pangolin, Brazilian three-banded armadillo, and egg-laying Australian marsupials such as the Duckbilled platypus and Echidna, as well as local fauna like red foxes, badgers, weasels, owls and a rook (a species related to a crow) wearing a red vest with a bizarre and sad backstory.

Artifacts from the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece are displayed alongside local archeological finds like Anglo-Saxon brooches and medieval pilgrim badges. The Egyptian collection is particularly interesting and contains mummified cats swaddled in bandages that were entombed in pyramids thousands of years ago; stone carvings of Wadjet the cobra god; and striking Ushabati dolls that were placed in tombs to serve the deceased in the afterlife. 

Exotic ethnographic objects obtained during the time of the British empire are displayed in huge glass cabinets. Here are wickedly bladed martial art swords from India and the Middle East, carved wooden African and Papua New Guinean fetishes, Inuit snow shows, Maori and Dayak war clubs, and Chinese ceramics. Nearby, you can see English relics of centuries past, such as a set of dueling pistols, a 17th-century rapier sword, a Cromwellian civil war helmet, Georgian-era cuckoo clocks, and Victorian portraits of local aristocrats. 

Related Tags

Libraries Museums Taxidermy Victorian Curio Cabinets Artifacts Ethnographic

Know Before You Go

The Beaney House of Art and Learning is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed to the public on Mondays) and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Exhibitions of photography and art often take place at the center. Entrance is free but please consider leaving a donation to contribute to the upkeep of this wonderful museum.

Community Contributors

Added By

Monsieur Mictlan

Edited By

Jaszmina Szendrey, Meg, Gavin

  • Jaszmina Szendrey
  • Meg
  • Gavin

Published

September 10, 2019

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Beaney House of Art and Knowledge
18 High St
Canterbury, England
United Kingdom
51.279633, 1.079145
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

The Rook in the Red Coat

Canterbury, England

miles away

Geoffrey Chaucer Statue

Canterbury, England

miles away

Alphege Windows

Canterbury, England

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Canterbury

Canterbury

England

Places 8

Nearby Places

The Rook in the Red Coat

Canterbury, England

miles away

Geoffrey Chaucer Statue

Canterbury, England

miles away

Alphege Windows

Canterbury, England

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Canterbury

Canterbury

England

Places 8

Related Places

  • Rome, Italy

    Wunderkammer Roma Artificialia

    This room of wonder is full of relics, from knights in armor to rare works of art.

  • New Orleans, Louisiana

    The Great American Alligator Museum

    Come for the 14-foot-long taxidermy alligator. Stay for the mini costumed gators shooting pool.

  • Signs from the city’s past.

    Carpinteria, California

    Carpinteria Valley Museum

    Its vast collection details the history of this Santa Barbara beach town.

  • Inside the museum.

    Cuernavaca, Mexico

    Museo Robert Brady

    An incredible little museum of interior design full of artifacts collected from around the world.

  • The museum exterior.

    Colmar, France

    Museum of Natural History and Ethnography

    A charming little museum founded by the designer of the Statue of Liberty.

  • Congolese Kuyu sculptures.

    Birchington-on-Sea, England

    Powell-Cotton Ethnographic Collection

    A vast archive of cultural artifacts collected from numerous expeditions across Africa and Asia.

  • Exterior of the museum.

    Paris, France

    Musée du quai Branly (Quai Branly Museum)

    This Parisian gem is one of the most incredible ethnographic museums in the world.

  • One of the museum’s dioramas of animals staged in their natural habitats.

    Birchington-on-Sea, England

    Powell-Cotton Dioramas

    An English explorer's vast natural history collection has the first realistic dioramas of animals staged in their natural habitats.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.