Two hundred years ago, on 5 February 1818, a group of men and women gathered at the County Library in Truro. When they left a few hours later, they had established a society of learning and culture that still exists and thrives today.
The Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) runs the Royal Cornwall Museum and the Courtney Library – both of them housed in the impressive Grade II listed building in River Street that the RIC has owned since 1919. To date, more than half a million objects have been collected and exhibited there – showcasing the outstanding contribution Cornwall has made over the centuries to science and the arts.
Penzance-born and Truro-educated Sir Humphry Davy, famous inventor of the ‘Davy’ lamp which protected miners from methane gas, was amongst the illustrious Cornishmen of the time who were advancing science on a global scale. His chemistry lectures were attracting large audiences in London and the same excitement about scientific discovery lay behind the instigation of the RIC. Historian A L Rowse described the period as the ‘pullulating, crowded, most creative epoch in (Cornwall’s) history’.
“It’s a measure of the extraordinary ferment of activity in Cornwall in the early nineteenth century that the RIC was the first such body to be established outside Britain’s major cities,” said current RIC trustee and celebrated author Philip Marsden. “The Industrial Revolution had produced a hunger for Cornwall’s minerals and – to those who devised efficient ways to extract them, to smelt and transport them – the returns were vast.”
One of the first actions the new institution took in 1818 was to buy equipment for a laboratory that it set up for mineral analysis. Samples were left of the different rocks brought in for assessment by those involved in the local mines and so the RIC’s mineral collection was born. Amongst the specimens donated were ‘native gold from Carnon’, ‘a large quartz crystal from Tintagel’ and ‘antimony and bournonite from Endellion’.
“RIC 200 is a year-long celebration of the past, present and future of the Institution and we’re planning a range of exhibitions and events to showcase the different ways in which Cornwall has made an impact on the world,” said the museum’s director Ian Wall. “Cornwall’s 450 recorded minerals, for example, represent 15% of all those found in the world – and more than a third of them are deemed ‘rare’ or ‘ultra-rare’.
“There’s a lot to be extremely proud of in our past but the RIC isn’t just about looking after our heritage, it’s about helping to forge our future too through inspiration and education. Our workshops, lectures and activities reflect our ongoing aim and vision and we look forward to opening our doors to thousands of visitors in 2018.”
An anniversary launch for RIC 200 will be held for families on Saturday 10th February. The museum is currently closed in preparation for the RIC 200 launch, re-opening to the public on 6 February. For more information, visit the website.