A COLLECTION of arts and crafts from around the world has gone on display at a Newcastle museum.

Items from the Hancock Museum's 4,500-piece ethnography collection, which until now has been stored away, have been put on permanent show.

Exhibits include a brick from the Great Wall of China, a suit of Japanese armour, a Turkish axe inlaid with gold and a bow and quiver with poisoned arrows made by people in Botswana.

The oldest pieces on display are examples of pottery from the Chimu civilisation, which flourished in Peru before being conquered by the Incas.

Hancock curator Steve McLean said: "The Hancock Museum is recognised as the regional centre for ethnography in the North-East of England, and the collection is of international importance.

"The objects were specially chosen from the collection by curators to represent the vast array of crafts which are kept safely in the Hancock stores.

"Some of the objects are beautifully decorated, many are rare and a few are so obscure that most people will never have seen them before."

The museum is open Mondays to Saturdays, between 10am and 5pm, and on Sundays from 2pm to 5pm.

Admission costs £3.95 for adults, concessions £2.95, and a family ticket is £12.50.