Who We Are

Built over the remains of a Roman bath house and with three floors of fantastic exhibitions, The Novium Museum is Chichester District's award-winning museum located in the heart of the city centre. Telling the fascinating story of Chichester District and its rich heritage, we look after more than 500,000 artefacts, both on display and in our store.

As you enter the museum, you're invited to step back in time to discover Chichester's rich Roman heritage. Centred around the breathtaking archaeological remains of a Roman bath house, our Roman Chichester gallery features the stunning Chilgrove mosaic as well as objects discovered in excavations across the district. 

Our first floor takes you through a timeline of Chichester District and features our famous Mystery Warrior - The North Bersted Man. Arguably the most elaborately equipped Iron Age Warrior grave ever found in England, archaeologists believe the Mystery Warrior was a refugee French Gallic fighter who fled Julius Caesar's Roman Army as they swept across continental Europe around 50BC.

The top floor of the museum hosts an exciting range of touring and temporary exhibitions, as well as offering a spectacular view of Chichester Cathedral and Bell Tower. 

We host an exciting programme of events throughout the year, including our award-winning Chichester Roman Week every May half term. For details about our upcoming events, visit our What's On page.

General museum admission is free, with donations gratefully accepted. 

We have won a number of awards including:

• 2019: Highly Commended - Limited Budget Project of the Year at the national Museum and Heritage Awards for Excellence for Chichester Roman Week
• 2018: Bronze Award - Tourism Event of the Year (Chichester Roman Week) at The Beautiful South Awards for Excellence
• 2017: Best Temporary or Touring Exhibition at the national Museum and Heritage Awards for Excellence for the Tim Peake: An Extraordinary Journey exhibition
• 2016: Bronze Award - Small Visitor Attraction of the Year at The Beautiful South Awards for Excellence

We run an award winning learning programme, including engaging workshops, outreach visits, sleepovers, loan boxes and virtual field trips. Every year we also organise a popular creative writing competition for schoolchildren. You can find out more here: Learning

As well as the main museum building, we also run The Guildhall, situated in the beautiful grounds of Priory Park. During its 800 history, the Grade 1 Listed building has undergone various reincarnations from its origins as a Franciscan Friary, to a venue where politicians were elected. The Guildhall is now licensed for weddings and hosts a variety of events throughout the year.

Visitor Comments

An amazing museum!

Went here for May The Toys Be With You, the Star Wars exhibition, and it was amazing!!

The normal exhibitions are amazing too and 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

Lovely, free museum, spacious with lift access. We paid to go to the May The Force Be With You Star Wars exhibition and it was brilliant, enjoyed by 15, 19, 48 and 55 year olds alike! Great place to duck out of the rain with games available to play as well - December 2023

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