The Age of Bede

The stunning new permanent exhibition, The Age of Bede, can be visited in Bede's World's new museum building. It was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen in December 2000.

At the core of the exhibition are the finds from the excavations of the site of St Paul's monastery. Finds dating from the late 7th and early 8th century - including large quantities of some of the earliest coloured window-glass from this country, fine imported pottery, green porphyry and beautiful stone carvings - illustrate the world in which Bede lived; a monastery equipped with the finest art and craftworks imported from Rome and Gaul by the founder, Benedict Biscop to glorify God. The simplicity of the personal possessions of the monks - iron belt buckles and knife blades - contrast with the splendour accorded to God. Styli from the monastic scriptorium testify to the writing that formed part of the daily work of the monks, in particular Bede, who wrote, "it has always been my delight to learn or to teach or to write".

These finds are set into the context of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria as Bede saw it. Bede began his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, in the days of Roman Britain, when Christianity first arrived in this island, and traced the thread of Christianity through the departure of the Romans, the arrival of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes and the development and eventual conversion of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Age of Bede exhibition follows the pattern of Bede's narrative, and quotes from his work (in translation) appear on the walls. Archaeological finds, reconstruction drawings and models, original pieces of artwork, audio-visuals and interactive exhibits bring the story to life.