So, here it is Mousy Christmas...

The mouse was established as a Christmassy animal the year Queen Victoria came to the throne due to the opening lines of the 1837 classic poem “The Night Before Christmas“

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

Mice on Ice. Playful mice are having wintery fun around the Royal Pavilion ice rink.

Here at Brighton & Hove Museums mice are not only stirring they are fishing, skiing, sledding, ice skating, painting, posing, zooming to outer space in a rocket and many tail-twitching activities besides.

Yes, the mice are back starring in miniature tableaus placed at child’s eye level or I-Spy-high in selected galleries this Christmas season.

However, work on the project is not just for Christmas. The task begins soon after New Year when the mice are carefully de-installed, labelled, packed and stored for the summer. In the autumn before return, they are frozen and unfrozen, vermin-proofed (surely a paradox?) and individually treated to a scrupulous repair and revamp procedure before re-instillation at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery and Hove Museum of Creativity. This final task is done to the same meticulous standard as the instillation of all our displays and exhibitions.

Each mouse has backstory. Some have names. Our front of house staff have print outs so they can share these stories with our visitors.