Sights in Norwich
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Elm Hill
Elm Hill is an utterly charming medieval cobbled street of crooked timber beams and doors, intriguing shops and snug cafés, this street is also the centre of the local antique business. From here walk down Wensum St to Tombland, where the market was originally located. Despite its ominous overtones, 'tomb' is an old Norse word for empty, hence space for a market.
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Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
Housed in the first major building by Norman Foster, now the darling of Britain's architectural set, the Sainsbury Centre is the most important centre for the arts in East Anglia. Filled with an eclectic collection of works by Picasso, Moore, Degas and Bacon, displayed beside art from Africa, the Pacific and the Americas, it also houses changing exhibitions that cover everything from local heritage to international art movements. Even if you're not an art buff you're almost guaranteed to find something of interest going on here.
The gallery is about 2 miles west of the city centre. To get here take bus 25, 26 or 35 from Castle Meadow (20 minutes).
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Norwich Cathedral
Norwich's most stunning landmark is the magnificent Anglican cathedral, its barbed spire soaring higher than any in England except Salisbury, while the size of its cloisters is second to none.
Begun in 1096, the cathedral is one of the finest Anglo-Norman abbey churches in the country, rivalled only perhaps by Durham. The sheer size of its nave is impressive, but its most renowned feature is the superb Gothic rib vaulting added in 1463. Among the spidery stonework are 1200 sculpted roof bosses depicting Bible stories. Together they represent one of the finest achievements of English medieval masonry.
Similar bosses can be seen in closer detail in the cathedral's remarkabl…
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St Julian's church
Tucked away in a tiny alley, St Julian's church is a shrine to Julian of Norwich and has been a centre for pilgrimage for centuries. Writer and mystic Julian (also known as Juliana, 1342-c 1429) wrote down her religious visions in a collection called The Revelations of Divine Love, which is unparalleled in English literature for its clarity and depth of perception. Sadly the cell where she wrote the book was torn down in the Reformation, much of the building was reconstructed after WWII.
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Origins
Located at the Forum, family-focussed Origins is a wonderful interactive museum that surrounds you with film, images and noise in its exploration of 2000 years of regional history. There are numerous buttons to push and games to play; you can have a go at speaking the original Norfolk dialect (not easy), flooding the Norfolk Fens or simply sit back for story time with weird and wonderful tales of the area's mythology.
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Norfolk Broads
The county's most beautiful attraction, the peaceful Broads are a mesh of navigable slow-moving rivers, freshwater lakes, wild water meadows, fens, bogs and saltwater marshes, flourishing nature reserves and bird sanctuaries. Together they form 201km (125mi) of lock-free waterways. A boat is best to spy on its birds, butterflies and water-loving wildlife.
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Dragon Hall
Another remarkable medieval building, this magnificent trading hall dates from 1430. The first floor great hall has a stunning crown-post roof with a carved dragon figure which gave the building its name. Guided tours are available on Tuesdays at 2pm.
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Norwich Castle, Museum & Art Gallery
Perched on a hilltop overlooking central Norwich, this massive Norman castle keep is a sturdy example of 12th-century aristocratic living. The castle is one of the best-preserved examples of Anglo-Norman military architecture in the country, despite a 19th-century facelift and a gigantic shopping centre grafted to one side.
It's now home to an art gallery and superb interactive museum. The museum crams in a wealth of history, including lively exhibits on Boudicca and the Iceni, the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, natural-history displays and even an Egyptian gallery complete with mummies. Every room is enlivened with plenty of fun for kids, but best of all is the atmospheric kee…
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Bridewell Museum
Closed recently for major redevelopment, the 14th-century bridewell or 'prison for women, beggars and tramps', is housed in a former merchant's house and is filled with fascinating paraphernalia and reconstructions of Norwich's principal shops and industries. Check the website to find out about new opening hours.
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Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum
A claustrophobic tunnel from Norwich castle emerges into a reconstructed WWI trench at the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum, which details the history of the local regiment since 1830. It has another less dramatic entrance from the road.
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Strangers' Hall
A maze of atmospheric rooms furnished in different medieval styles is on view in this early 14th-century town house. You can see the Great Hall set for a banquet, examine historic toys or try your hand making a bed Tudor style. Outside is a pretty 17th-century knot garden.
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Forum
The all-glass Forum is the most impressive building to hit Norwich's skyline in decades, and is home to Norfolk's main library, the regional BBC and the tourist office.
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Norwich Medieval Churches
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Market Square
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Tombland & Elm Hill
Leave the cathedral complex by Erpingham gate and turn left onto leafy Tombland, where the market was originally located. Despite its ominous overtones, 'tomb' is an old Norse word for empty, hence space for a market. Cross over and follow Princes St to reach Elm Hill, an utterly charming medieval cobbled street of crooked timber beams and doors, intriguing shops and snug cafes. It's one of the oldest intact streets in the city and now the centre of the local antiques business.
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Mustard Shop
Though it's more shop than museum, this replica Victorian shop tells the 200-year story of Colman's Mustard, a famous local product. It's in the lavish art-nouveau Royal Arcade.
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