More than 100,000 people have visited the Natural History Museum’s Dippy the dinosaur who took up residence in Norwich Cathedral’s Nave in July.
Dippy on Tour attracts more than 100,000 visitors to Norwich Cathedral in its first six weeks
Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure opened at the Cathedral on Tuesday 13 July 2021 and in the first six weeks 106,681 people have been to see the iconic 26m Diplodocus cast -with Saturday 7 August seeing the highest volume of visitors with 4,354.
A further 1,884 young people have visited Dippy on Tour with their school or with scouting organisations. The Cathedral has also offered autism-friendly sessions and special times for looked after children to explore the exhibition and also for organisations including the intergenerational charity Friend in Deed and Vision Norfolk, which supports people living with sight loss and visual impairment.
More than 51,000 of the visitors have also taken time to explore the Cathedral in greater detail and more than 2,250 people have enjoyed the wider Dippy events programme, with the most popular events to date being a sold-out film screening of Paddington (in which Dippy makes a cameo appearance) and a sold-out talk called Who was Dippy? by biologist, author and broadcaster Ben Garrod.
Dino Tales, the Saturday morning storytime session for children, has also sold out almost every week and other events have included everything from organ recitals to drawing evenings with Dippy.
As well as giving people the chance to see a dinosaur cast up close, Dippy’s visit is also about encouraging people to engage with nature and to take action to help protect the planet for the future. The trees in the exhibition’s Reflection Zone have so far had more than 6,000 leaves added with individual pledges from people – ranging from cycling to work every day to recycling more and using less water.
These latest visitor numbers come in the same week that Norwich Cathedral was awarded a Travellers’ Choice Award 2021, from TripAdvisor as a result of the quality of visitor reviews – this puts Norwich Cathedral in the top ten per cent of attractions worldwide.
The Dean of Norwich, the Very Revd Jane Hedges, said:
“We are delighted to have welcomed more than 100,000 people to the Cathedral in the first six weeks of the Dippy on Tour exhibition.
“It has been absolutely wonderful to see so many people of all ages enjoying visiting Dippy and also to see the many other dinosaur-related events taking place across the city.
“After such a challenging 18 months for everyone, it is brilliant that Dippy’s visit has helped to inspire such an exciting summer of prehistoric fun!
“Alongside the fun, our hope has always been that Dippy’s visit would also encourage important conversations about the environment, faith and science, and the future of our planet. The response to our Reflection Zone has been particularly heartening, with more than 6,000 people adding leaves to the zone’s trees and making their own personal pledges to help the environment, while our Talkative Tuesdays programme has led to many insightful talks and discussions taking place under the tail of Dippy.
“With two more months left of the Dippy on Tour exhibition, we look forward to welcoming many more people and really making the most of Dippy’s visit, so that the legacy of this unique exhibition will endure for a long time to come.”
Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure is brought to Norwich Cathedral by the Natural History Museum in partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation and supported by Dell EMC and Williams & Hill. Norwich Cathedral is the eighth and final stop on the tour and the only cathedral stop.
For more details on all the talks and to book visit dippy.cathedral.org.uk/dippy-events
Photos: Credit Bill Smith
