Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

The museum and collection

The Peabody Museum of Natural History is part of Yale University and was founded in 1866. It is among the largest and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. The Peabody's Babylonian Collection was founded in 1911 and is comprised of cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals, statues and other objects, some of which date back to 3500 BC. Among the highlights are tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh, mathematical texts, magic spells and the world’s oldest recipes. The exhibition "Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks" displays a selection of 150 artefacts. For this exhibition as well as for future temporary exhibitions, the museum refurbished a gallery.

The assignment

We installed 25 wall cases and 1 freestanding case, made from extra white anti-reflective security glass. The museum cases were designed to be demountable, as the client wanted the ability to move them to the permanent gallery. In addition, the cases have a modular design so that they can freely be re-combined and expanded.