Collections and exhibitions

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Brick building with windows. Text: Collections and Exhibitions.
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​Collections

Tullie is an independent regional museum with an international reach.  We look after one million cultural artefacts on behalf of the people of Carlisle, covering archaeology, social history, fine & decorative art, and natural science.


Our collection includes:


• One of the largest collections of pre-Raphaelite artworks in the north of England.


• An internationally important Roman collection that centres on Hadrian’s Wall (a UNESCO World Heritage Site).


• A vast collection of specimens - nationally designated by Arts Council England - that represent the flora and fauna of Cumbria, the most biodiverse county in England.


• The recently opened Costume Collection, one of the largest dedicated costume galleries in the North of England, celebrating the museum’s remarkable and, until recently, rarely seen fashion and textile collection.


We have partnerships with some of the most prestigious museums and art galleries in the country, including the British Museum, Tate, and the National Portrait Gallery, as well as international partners (such as the University of Sapienza in Rome), and frequent loans travelling worldwide.

Five sculptures of animals and objects illuminated by colored lights.

Exhibitions

Our hugely popular exhibitions programme excites, challenges, and inspires. We have one of the largest temporary exhibition galleries in the North West, which hosts a combination of touring exhibitions from national museums and galleries like the Tate Artist Rooms programme, the British Library and many other sector-leading partners, and our own impressive in-house shows. These are all curated using items from our collections and external loans with a focus on community co-curation.


Recent exhibitions have included: Dinosaur rEvolution; Sheila Fell (a major retrospective of the iconic Cumbrian artist); Backing the Blues(a co-curated exhibition celebrating the history of Carlisle United Football Club); and HAIR: An Untold Story, a partnership exhibition with the Museums & Galleries Network for Exhibition Touring (MAGNET).

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Logo for Tullie: deep blue text
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The Harris Hill Salary Survey 2025 graphic with the words
By David Young September 12, 2025
How much do charity CEOs get paid? The short answer is that although charity leaders tend to earn considerably less than their commercial counterparts, pay still varies enormously, depending on factors like the size and complexity of the charity's operations, its annual income, and the scale of the challenge facing the incoming CEO.
Harris Hill salary survey 2025 graphic with purple spheres labeled temporary, interim, contract, and fixed term.
By David Young September 1, 2025
Tough economic times have certainly had an impact on the number of permanent hires that charities have been able to make this year, but what about temporary and interim positions? Here's what our Temps specialists had to say about the trends they're seeing in the market, in our 2025 Salary Survey .
The Harris Hill Salary Survey 2025 graphic with the words
By David Young September 12, 2025
How much do charity CEOs get paid? The short answer is that although charity leaders tend to earn considerably less than their commercial counterparts, pay still varies enormously, depending on factors like the size and complexity of the charity's operations, its annual income, and the scale of the challenge facing the incoming CEO.
Harris Hill salary survey 2025 graphic with purple spheres labeled temporary, interim, contract, and fixed term.
By David Young September 1, 2025
Tough economic times have certainly had an impact on the number of permanent hires that charities have been able to make this year, but what about temporary and interim positions? Here's what our Temps specialists had to say about the trends they're seeing in the market, in our 2025 Salary Survey .
The Harris Hill salary survey 2025 graphic: Yellow spheres with finance, accounting, payroll labels.
By David Young August 27, 2025
Say you work in finance and many will imagine a world of six-figure salaries, baffling spreadsheets, detached houses in the Home Counties and a statistically inexplicable number of people called Steve. Working in charity finance however, is – baffling spreadsheets aside – a rather different story, but with their finger on the pulse and their ear to the ground at all times (we should really get them some chairs), our finance specialists are perfectly placed to bring you up to speed on the latest twists and turns. Here’s what they had to say about remuneration and recruitment trends in the current market, in our 2025 Salary Survey .