Final days of Guernsey French, Occupation and 'Timewarp' exhibitions

Sunday 27 December 2020

Islanders are being invited to pay one final visit to the current displays at the Candie Museum, all of which will finish on 31 December.

The museum will close at the end of the year and re-open on 29 January with a brand new exhibition.

‘Voice-Vouaïe’ is currently the largest exhibit, featuring 105 portrait photographs of people who grew up speaking Guernesiais, accompanied by video and sound recordings. The display occupies two galleries in the museum, and is the culmination of two years’ work between the museum, photographer Aaron Yeandle and language consultant Yan Marquis.

The display in the foyer, ‘From Occupation to Liberation’, features information panels, objects and photographs relating to the German Occupation. Its contents are all featured in ‘Occupation to Liberation 1940-1945: Guernsey, Sark & Alderney’, an introductory book written by Jason Monaghan and published by the Museum earlier this year.

Features of this exhibit include treasured toys from a young evacuee, a home-made crystal radio set, a ‘V for Victory’ badge, wooden bookends carved by a German soldier, and a Canadian Red Cross Parcel.

Pictured: the 'From Occupation to Liberation' display at Guernsey Museum.

The interactive ‘Code Room Timewarp’, currently set up in the Discovery Room, will also end on 31 December. This role-play area is inspired by Bletchley Park, the centre of Allied code-breaking efforts during the Second World War. Visitors will receive a secret message at reception that can be solved using a specially created ‘Candie Enigma Machine’.

Other famous historical codes will also be on display, such as the ancient Scytale, Caesar’s Code, mirror writing and Hieroglyphics. The Discovery Room also houses an ‘impressive and eclectic display’ of telephones, ranging from some of the oldest phones to the early mobiles of the 1980s.

Guernsey Museum will be closed from 24-27 December, and will then reopen from 28-31 December. It will reopen on 29 January with the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition from London’s Natural History Museum.