LYME Regis Museum has made the 'difficult decision' to temporarily close its doors.
The museum building is closed from today (18 March) and will hopefully re-open in the early summer.
A statement on the museum's Facebook page said: "Following recent advice from the Prime Minister issued yesterday to avoid all unnecessary social contact, we have taken the difficult decision to close our museum building from Wednesday 18 March.
"We are disappointed to have to delay welcoming visitors to the museum building, but the most important thing for us is to protect the health and wellbeing of our visitors, volunteers and staff.
"We currently expect to reopen in the early summer and until then we will continue our work behind the scenes to promote education and interest in the geology of the Jurassic Coast, Lyme’s fascinating history and unique literary connections.
"We will continue to produce content for our website and social media platforms that creates new activity and connects people with our work and collections.
"Please sign up to our emails on our website and check our social media channels so we can keep you up to date with what’s going on.
"Thank you for your ongoing support, patience and understanding at this challenging time.
"We look forward to welcoming you back in due course."