Culture of Bristol - Museums and Galleries

Museums and Galleries

The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery houses collections of natural history, local archaeology, local glassware, Egyptology, Chinese ceramics and art, including the Bristol School. Touring exhibitions from other galleries are regularly hosted.

The City Museum is also responsible for

• The Tudor Red Lodge, built in 1580 as a the lodge for a 'Great House' which once stood on the site now occpied by the Colston Hall. Displays include Tudor and Georgian rooms and a Tudor knot garden.
• The Georgian House was built by slave trader and plantation owner John Pinney in 1790 and is preserved in the style of a Georgian era town house.
• The Blaise Castle House and estate on the northern outskirts of the city houses the social history collections. The grounds were designed by 18th century landscape gardener Humphry Repton and John Nash designed the dairy and conservatory.
• The remains of Kings Weston Roman Villa which is open on request.

The City Records Office in Hotwells houses the extensive city archives.

The former Industrial Museum, housed in former warehouses at Prince's Wharf has been extensively re-built and, now called M Shed opened as a museum of Bristol life in 2011.

The Watershed Media Centre exhibits photography, digital arts and cinema. Arnolfini specialises in contemporary art, live performance and dance and cinema. The Royal West of England Academy in Clifton was founded in 1849 and exhibits works by William James Müller and Francis Danby amongst others.

Smaller collections include those of Spike Island, the Alexander Gallery, F-block at the School of Creative Arts, Bower Ashton, Bristol Architecture Centre and Glenside Museum. The Bristol Guild of Applied Art also has a small gallery. Science interests are catered for by the At-Bristol complex at Canon's Marsh, which includes 'hands-on' exhibits and a planetarium.