The Charles Dickens Museum is located in London and was the home of the writer and his family from 1837-1839. It houses original manuscripts, rare paintings, and personal items belonging to Dickens. The museum offers events and special exhibits, and there is also a museum in Portsmouth, England, which recreates the house where Dickens was born.
Originally called the Dickens House Museum, the Charles Dickens Museum is a public museum located in London, England. Located at 48 Doughty Street, the museum was the home of writer Charles Dickens and his family from early 1837 until late 1839. The Dickens Fellowship purchased the townhouse and it opened as a museum in 1925. Since 2011, the museum is one of 12 British museums and galleries that make up London’s Museum Mile, which stretches from King’s Cross to the River Thames.
Charles Dickens was a copious author during the 19th century, with his works still admired and studied in the 21st century. Some of his most celebrated hits include David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities. It was during his time at the Doughty Street townhouse that Dickens wrote various acclaimed works including The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. His former home, now the Charles Dickens Museum, spans four floors and houses some of Dickens’ greatest treasures including original manuscripts and rare paintings, as well as personal items that belonged to the writer.
Dickens moved into the Georgian house in Doughty Street with his wife Catherine Hogarth-Dickens about a year after their marriage. Shortly after their arrival at Doughty, the couple would welcome the first three of their ten children, along with Catherine’s sister Mary and Dickens’ brother Frederick. Many important events would occur in Dickens’ life while he lived at the house, including the initial work on Oliver Twist, the birth of his first son Charles, and the death of his sister-in-law Mary. Mary would go on to become a major figure in later Dickens novels, including The Old Curiosity Shop.
The house in Doughty Street, where the Charles Dickens Museum is located, is the only remaining Dickens residence in London. Subsequent houses occupied by the Dickens family were larger and more stately than those seen in Doughty Street due to the ever-growing Dickens family and the rise in wealth experienced by one of England’s foremost writers. The Dickens would also travel and live abroad for years. For several years from the mid-1840s, the family traveled and resided in Italy and France while Dickens wrote Pictures from Italy and Dombey and Son.
Since its opening in 1925, millions of visitors have visited the Charles Dickens Museum. The museum offers various events and special exhibits throughout the year. Special film screenings, reading groups and group screenings are held each day, with private showings available before it opens to the public in the morning and after it closes in the evening. The Charles Dickens Museum has expanded over the years to include a museum café, landscaped garden and gift shop.
Charles Dickens’ home in Portsmouth, England, where he was born in 1812, has also been turned into a well-preserved museum. The Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum recreates what the house would have looked like during the early 1800s when Dickens was born to John and Elizabeth Dickens. This museum also houses various Dickens memorabilia including the sofa on which Dickens died on June 9, 1870.
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