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Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery

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barbara
barbara
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5 out of 5
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Editor Pick

Excellent Exhibits in Bristol

  • August 8, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by frangliz from Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Excellent Exhibits in Bristol

Having recently visited Portsmouth City Museum and Art Gallery, I was interested to see how its counterpart in Bristol compared. I expected that perhaps it would be a grander affair, and I was right. Whereas Portsmouth concentrates mainly on local history and art, Bristol, whilst giving prominence to local artists and exhibits, has world-class displays in its galleries.

The museum is housed in an imposing three-storey Edwardian building; the stairs are not steep and there is a lift to certain areas on the upper floors, but you do have to call an attendant to operate the lift. How easy it is to do this I do not know. However, if you are at all interested in Ancient Egypt you are in for a treat, as there is a new display on the ground floor. This is where we started our visit.

The Egyptian exhibits here are based on the themes of life, death and the afterlife. Everything is behind glass, unsurprisingly considering the age of these artefacts. Even after more than twenty years of living in Egypt, I can still marvel at tiny amulets that look almost as if they were made yesterday, the mummy of a woman, or examples of hieroglyphics and other writing on a fragment of papyrus or a piece of stone. Touch screens placed low enough for children who can read allow visitors to access information on the individual items in each case. As well as the themes of life and death, attention is drawn to the way the Egyptians worked with different materials such as wood (as in the case for the mummy) and stone.

Moving further down this gallery, there are some fine examples of Assyrian reliefs. These are finely executed, but personally they didn't thrill me in quite the way that the Egyptian exhibits did.

At the top of the stairs leading to second floor is a gypsy caravan; turning left, we found ourselves in the Oriental gallery where Chinese dragons are to be seen wherever you look. There is even a tee-shirt from Tammy Girl decorated with a dragon. It was interesting that although this gallery was one of the quieter ones, there were two children sitting drawing whilst their parents looked around. Emerging from the dragon room, you find yourself admiring one of the best collections of Chinese glass outside Asia.

From Oriental art you proceed to British art. The first gallery is devoted to a collection of beautiful silver artefacts amid paintings of Bristol as it was over two hundred years ago. Realising that we did not have time to see everything in one visit, we passed fairly quickly through this room; I really must go back one day to admire the silver. We made a beeline for the more modern exhibits such as the paintings of the St Ives group. Barbara Hepworth is represented here by a painting rather than a sculpture, alongside Ben Nicholson in Gallery 5. I was also particularly interested to find Bristol-born Richard Long's Delabole Slate Circle, acquired from Tate Modern in 1997. Long was a great influence of mine in my students days, as was Tom Phillips, one of whose paintings I was delighted to find here.

If you are not a fan of modern art, you might prefer the work of the Pre-Raphaelites in Gallery 6 where both Millais and Burne-Jones are represented amongst others. There are a few examples of Impressionist paintings in the European room, notably by Renoir, Sisley and Lucien Pissaro. Beyond the French gallery is a display of pottery and ceramics, but this was another room that I had to leave for a future visit.

Going back down to the first floor we were greeted by a fibreglass replica of a dinosaur as well as a huge dinosaur leg skeleton. This area was obviously one of the most popular ones for children, so we decided to leave them to it as they greatly outnumbered us.

The display of minerals was one we spent more time on. Although there are exquisite pieces from all over the world, perhaps my favourite was a slice of Blue John from Derbyshire. It's true that this mineral holds a special place in my heart because I spent some wonderful holidays in the Peak District during my childhood, but I loved the colours in this example, which ranged from orange through to purple. My son prefered the pyrophyllite with its fascinating geometrical forms.

Minerals were followed by fossils, including some that were unearthed during the building of the Great Western Railway. Then came the wildlife area, but we decided to give it a miss as it looked to be swarming with children and must be one of the most popular sections of the museum. Many of the exhibits there focus on rare, endangered or extinct species of wildlife. British wildlife can be seen on the ground floor.

Descending the staircase to the ground floor once again, we walked past the shop without taking a look, as I don't usually buy souvenirs from museums. We noticed an enclosed area for temporary exhibitions where paintings were waiting to be hung. There is a cafe in an open area on the ground floor which seemed to be frequented mostly by families with young children who probably needed a break from all the excitement of dinosaurs and gorillas. Organic and fair trade food and drinks are served here. The cafe, as well as the toilets, are due for refurbishment during the course of 2008.

As we were leaving I suddenly noticed a huge biplane suspended from the lofty ceiling above the entrance hall – despite its size, neither of us had looked up and spotted it on our way in.

Certain areas of the museum are great attractions for children, and there were plenty around on the grey Saturday afternoon when we visited. There is even a play area called Small World for the under-fives on the ground floor. The museum would be an excellent choice for a family outing, whether your children are into dinosaurs, wild animals or mummies. As for adults, I'm sure everyone will find a display here that fascinates them. Since it's free, there is nothing to lose by paying a visit.

www.bristol.gov.uk/museums

Open Daily, 10am-5pm

Lifts to some floors; space to leave buggies in front hall; baby-change; toilets' wheelchairs; highchairs available in cafe.

Car parks are situated five minutes' walk from the museum in either West End or Trenchard Street. On foot, the museum is ten minutes from the city centre and twenty-five minutes from Bristol Temple Meads railway station.

From journal A Day Out in Bristol

Editor Pick

A Day of Free Culture

  • February 4, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by barbara from Atlanta, Georgia
I can't count how many times I've wandered into the City of Bristol's free museums on rainy grey afternoons. The City Museum and Art Gallery is the most prominent on Queen's Road (beside Browns restaurant) so I think it's a great starting point.

Here you'll find rotating exhibits and a reason to visit more than once. Frankly, if you don't care anything about museums, stepping inside this gorgeous building is worthwhile simply to ooohhh and ahhhh at the marble floors and neo-classical columns, not to mention the flying machine suspended from the high ceiling. Here I've learned about Egyptian culture, the Roman influence on Great Britain, the applied arts in the area, and dinosaurs!

One of my favourite permanent exhibits in this museum is the art gallery where you can find a large collection of gorgeous paintings, some by famous artists---The Two Sisters by Impressionist Renoir is in one gallery---as well as English painters of whom I had no previous knowledge. These galleries are worth multiple wanders, which I've given them.

My second favourite permanent gallery is the natural history wing. Some folks might find taxidermy to be a wee disturbing, but we must keep in mind that the Victorians did not have the access to travel that we do today. It was common to stuff animals and bring them to the UK so that others could see rarer specimens. Children might like this section with its tiger and ape more interesting than other parts of the museum.

After you get your fill of the City Museum, go out the door and walk left towards the new shopping center, Cabot Circus, and BRI Hospital. Queen's Road turns into Park Row and you will find the Red Lodge on your right about a quarter mile down the hill before you reach BRI. (Incidentally, if you need a place to park, there's a parking deck here that's useful.)

The entrance to what was once a hunting lodge is a fairly modest door in a red building. If you keep in mind that this place was erected around 1590 and used to be more of a "dressing room" that was once attached via walkway to a mansion that has long been gone, you'll be more impressed by this museum. Get a self-guiding tour sheet upon entrance and wander the rooms that eventually housed an all girls' reform school in the 1700s. There's a lovely painting of Queen Elizabeth I in the Great Oak Room that shows off this famous monarch's hands... a feature of which she was most proud. In the summer, you can walk in the Tudor-style knot garden in back.

This museum isn't going to take you a lot of time to see, but it is worth a half hour if you have an interest in architecture or the city's history.

Next, you can leave the Red Lodge, go back up towards the City Museum. You'll see the Bristol Guild Shops on your left. You can actually access these from Park Row. Go through the cafe and into the shops---a fun place to poke around, in fact there are several stores I like on Park Row AND Park Street---and exit the other entrance onto Park Street. Then you'll need to cross the road to get to George Street.

At #7 George Street you'll find my favourite free museum in this area. The Georgian House looks small, but it's not. Go inside and see how a middle-class merchant lived with servants in the 18th century. This house is gorgeous, and I would love to own it today. Of course, you'd have to be Madonna rich! Or so it seems to me. Each room in this stunning townhouse has been decorated in period furnishings, and you get a good sense of what life was like for the residents. I get a kick out of the plunge bath that takes up one room. This is a much more robust museum than the Red Lodge, but it's nice to contrast a Georgian building with the older, Elizabethan building.

All three museums described here are open from 10-5, but the City Museum is open all the time except major holidays such as Christmas. However, the house museums are only open on certain days of the week, so you need to check on hours before planning your visit: www.bristol-city.gov.uk/museums. At this website you'll find information on other great places to see in the area such as the Blaise Castle House Museum, which is a short drive away.

The best thing about these three museums?

They are free and within walking distance of each other.

From journal Beautiful Bristol

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