Masson Pavilion Exhibition Hall
Visit our brand new costume exhibition in the Masson Pavilion.
What do you wear on a day out in Derbyshire, and how has the way we dress changed over the centuries?
Saturday 14th May saw the opening of a major new exhibition that showcases exquisite reproductions of period costumes as worn by the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian guests who visited the Heights of Abraham between 1787 and 1910.
Modern day guests will be able to walk back through time and come face to face with visitors of the past, whilst learning a little about the social and working conditions of their time. 14 life-sized mannequin figures, beautifully dressed in historically accurate clothing, populate the large exhibition housed in the refurbished Masson Pavilion. Animated picture frames alongside the figures reveal information about each time period.
The new exhibition, entitled “A Mirror on the Past”, is the third new attraction to open this year, supporting the hilltop park’s 2022 theme: celebrating visitors from the past. Earlier this year a sculpture trail of willow figures made by Cheshire based artist Caroline Gregson opened at the summit, and on weekdays until the end of June historically costumed actors can be found walking the serpentine paths through what was once known as a “savage garden”, a popular term for wild and exotic locations first coined by the Georgians in the late 18th Century.
The exhibition is housed in the Masson Pavilion, which has undergone a transformation into a dramatic theatrically lit space, with a new ramped entrance and canopied exit to allow for access for all visitors.
