Who We Are

Step Back in Time and Journey through 500,000 years of Chichester's history

As you walk through our doors, you're invited to begin your journey in Roman times. Our Roman Chichester gallery is centered around the stunning remains of a Roman bath house, featuring treasures like the breathtaking Chilgrove mosaic and objects unearthed from local archaeological digs.

Explore the Past Like Never Before

On the first floor, you'll find Chichester District's timeline and delve into a captivating chronological journey through Chichester's rich past. Explore the district's evolution from the Stone and Iron Ages, through the Saxon and Tudor eras, right up to the present day. Discover how history has shaped the district we know today. Don't miss our famous Mystery Warrior, also known as The North Bersted Man—one of the most remarkable Iron Age discoveries ever made in England. This elaborately equipped warrior is believed to be a French Gallic fighter who fled from Julius Caesar's advancing Roman legions around 50 BC!

A New Experience on Every Visit

Our top floor hosts a changing lineup of exciting touring and temporary exhibitions, and offers stunning views of Chichester Cathedral and the Bell Tower. Each visit brings a new adventure and a fresh perspective on history!

Events for Everyone

We're proud to offer a year-round program of events, including our award-winning Chichester Roman Week every May half-term. Check out our What's on page to see what we have in store!

General Admission is Always Free!

We believe history should be accessible to everyone, so general admission to The Novium Museum is free, with donations always appreciated! For some of our special temporary and touring exhibitions, there may be a small admission fee. This charge helps us continue to bring exciting and diverse exhibitions to Chichester, ensuring there's always something new to discover at The Novium Museum.

Our Awards

Over the years we are proud to have won a number of awards, including: 

• 2022: Shortlisted - Best Learning Programme of the Year (Virtual Field Trips) at the national Museum and Heritage Awards for Excellence
• 2021: Shortlisted - Content Creation (Virtual Field Trips) at the national Digital Culture Awards 
• 2020: Shotlisted - Kids in Museums at Home Award (Virtual Chichester Roman Week) 
• 2019: Highly Commended - Limited Budget Project of the Year (Chichester Roman Week) at the national Museum and Heritage Awards for Excellence
• 2018: Bronze Award - Tourism Event of the Year (Chichester Roman Week) at The Beautiful South Awards for Excellence
• 2017: Best Temporary or Touring Exhibition for the Tim Peake: An Extraordinary Journey exhibition at the national Museum and Heritage Awards for Excellence
• 2016: Bronze Award - Small Visitor Attraction of the Year at The Beautiful South Awards for Excellence

Learning and Engagement

We offer an award-winning learning program with hands-on workshops, outreach visits, loan boxes, virtual field trips, and even museum sleepovers! Discover more on our Learning page.

Experience The Guildhall

Beyond the museum, we manage The Guildhall in the beautiful Priory Park. This stunning Grade 1 Listed building has a history that spans over 800 years, from its origins as a Franciscan Friary to its role as a political meeting place. Now, it's a unique venue for weddings and special events throughout the year. On the first Thursday of every month we now offer the opportunity to see inside this stunning building with our regular Guildhall Open Mornings. For more details, please visit our What's On page. 

Visitor Comments

It had something for everyone and all ages! My brother and I were there for over two hours and still didn't see everything. The theme in the lift was both imaginative and eye popping, well done to whoever thought that up! - August 2024

An amazing museum!

You can definitely spend a long time in here! Such interesting local history stories and many stories of buildings I recognise.

It's definitely worth the visit and so enjoyable!! - January 2024

Fantastic museum. Well worth visiting. Always something new to see. The museum puts on loads of different themed exhibitions, - January 2024

The museum is so well laid out and just the right size of exhibits to make wandering through the whole place an appealing prospect. The Chichester local history part has some things that will interest children's ghoulish side - like the mobile stocks for miscreants, and the Roman gallery has some lovely stuff. Bonus - the great views over the rooftops to the Cathedral. - July 2021

There are a huge amount of very interesting pieces in there. Incredible how its built over the remains of a roman bath house which is fully on view! - May 2021