The Charles Dickens Museum in London is celebrating a remarkable milestone this Sunday, 100 years since it first opened its doors to literary enthusiasts and history lovers.
According to bbc.com, to commemorate this special occasion, the museum will offer free entry on June 9 and host an unprecedented gathering of Dickens’ descendants who will bring the author’s legacy to life.
Located at 48 Doughty Street, the only surviving London residence where Dickens lived, the museum has preserved the space where literary classics like Oliver Twist were born.
The centenary coincides with the 155th anniversary of the author’s death, making the celebration particularly poignant.
“If you come and see us on our 100th birthday, there is every chance that you will find yourself savouring the atmosphere in the room where Dickens wrote Oliver Twist alongside the current head of the Dickens family,” said Frankie Kubicki, Director of the Charles Dickens Museum.
Visitors will have the extraordinary opportunity to meet Dickens’ descendants in each room of the historic house. Mark Dickens, the author’s great-great-grandson, will read from A Christmas Carol in Dickens’ study, while Gerald Dickens will share stories about the 1865 Staplehurst train crash that inspired The Signalman.
Meanwhile, Ollie Dickens, who recently welcomed Queen Camilla to the museum, will read passages from Oliver Twist in the very room where his great-great-great-grandfather penned the classic tale.
The museum’s journey began on June 9, 1925, when the Earl of Birkenhead declared at its opening that Dickens “would have cherished the knowledge” that his first London home would be preserved for admirers of his genius.
- Featured image: Ollie Dickens, great-great-great grandson of Charles Dickens, with HM The Queen at the Museum in March
