Create Your Own Museum. What Is It? How Is It Going to Make a Profit?

For my museum, I’ve decided that I would “rebuild” Camelot. it will have a moat surrounding the castle with a drawbridge, a gatehouse, a wall walk, merlons, courtyard, stables, tower etc… I would buy a large piece of land and have a castle built and a forest around it. I would have the museum in Glastonbury as the museum is based on the Arthurian legend and Glastonbury has many links to king Arthur (it is said that Glastonbury is Avalon, the resting place of king Arthur and apparently king Arthur’s tomb was found at Glastonbury Abbey). inside the museum I would have rooms with famous paintings of the Arthurian legend; king Arthur, his knights, king Arthur’s death, the lady of the lake, the knights at the round table etc… I would also have rooms with mannequins on display with what people (knights, the kings and queens, servants, villagers, druids etc..) in those times would have worn, a room with Arthur’s throne and the round table, the holy grail and I would have a mini film playing explaining the legend behind the grail and the fisher king who guarded it. I would also have another room educating visitors about a leader called Ambrosius Aurelianus who led the battle of Mynydd Baddon (or as it’s also known, the battle of Mount Badon or Mons Badonicus) between the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and how it links to king Arthur and the battle of Camlann.

In the courtyard, there will be a show on every three hours, and there will be actors re-enacting some of the famous legends such as the Excalibur being drawn from the stone, the battle of Camlann, the death of king Arthur. visitors will be allowed to walk on the castle grounds and go for walks where there will be actors walking around as knights, servants, villagers, druids or even king Arthur and they’ll talk to visitors about who they are and what they do on a daily basis. there is also an opportunity to have a maximum of 30 people camping overnight in the forest and they will have a tour guide with them to tell them famous stories about king Arthur around the campfire. there will be the chance to find out whether you’re the true king/queen of England by attempting to pull the Excalibur from the stone. there will be a member of staff with a remote and when they push the button it allows the visitor to draw the Excalibur. you could have many people attempting and failing to draw it but only when the staff pushes the button, it can be drawn. there will be a plaque in front of the stone which will read “whosoever pulleth out this sword of stone and anvil is rightwise kingborn of all England”. there will be tour guides every hour to show some visitors around the museum and the forest to explain what everything is and the story behind all the artefacts. outside the museum, there will be king arthur’s tombstone, which reads “hic iacet arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus” which translates as “here lies Arthur, once and future king”, that people can visit. visitors can also try on costumes and dress up as knights, the king/queen, druids, witches, villagers etc…

The gift shop will be located by the entrance where they’ll be selling replicas of the holy grail cup, the Excalibur, there will also be bookmarks, post cards, books based on king Arthur nonfiction and fiction, poems and paintings. they will also be selling key rings of king Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, lady Morgana, the knights, Mordred and other main characters in the legend, the holy grail, the round table, Avalon, lady of the lake etc… I’ve decided to sell DVDs of films and TV shows that are based on the Arthurian legend. there will also be mugs, stationery, t-shirts etc… there will be leaflets available to the visitors for other places that have things to do with king Arthur that they may want to visit in the future for example, Glastonbury abbey – the resting place of king Arthur, king Arthur’s labyrinth in wales etc…

I’ve decided to make a museum based on king Arthur and the legends based around him as I’ve always had an interest in the Arthurian legend and I’ve been to a few museums/tourist places to do with king Arthur and it wasn’t very memorable or fun and there wasn’t much to it. I thought it would be a good idea to create a unique museum that I would be interested in going to. I did this by completely recreating the world that king Arthur would have lived in which is why many people would come here because it would feel like they’re in Camelot. this museum is aimed to educate people on the legend of king Arthur and how it’s an important part of our culture. visitors can learn about how the legend came to be and find out if king Arthur was real or if he really is just a myth. the museum is also fun as there are many interactive things to do for example, talking to the actors, attempting to pull the Excalibur from the stone, trying on the costumes the people would have worn, watching shows, being told legends. people will leave this museum with many great memories, glad that they’ve experienced what it would be like to live in Camelot and being more educated. my museum will earn money by having an entrance fee, buying things from the gift shop and paying extra if they wanted to stay overnight.