The Polar Museum
Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute
A free museum of the Scott Polar Research Institute, displaying the last letters from Robert Scott's Antarctic expedition, sledging equipment and Inuit artifacts.
The museum belongs to the Scott Polar Research Institute, named after Antarctic explorer Robert Scott, which was founded in 1920. The exhibits trace the history of polar exploration: Scott's final letters and diary, written before his death in the Antarctic in 1912; Shackleton's Endurance expedition; relics from Franklin's Northwest Passage expedition; artifacts from the daily lives of Inuit and Sami people in the Arctic; and polar scientific research. The museum is small but very moving. Admission is free, and it is closed on Sundays and Mondays. It is on Lensfield Road, about an 8-minute walk from the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Opening hours
Tue–Sat 10:00–16:00
Nearby sights
- Cambridge University Botanic Garden
- Round Church, Cambridge
- Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
- Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
- Fitzwilliam Museum
- Museum of Zoology, Cambridge
- Cambridge Market Square
- The Eagle