Bristol Museums

We are getting ready to reopen!

Bristol Archives will reopen on 17 May
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery will reopen on 18 May
M Shed will reopen on 28 May

Pre-booking is now open for Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.

We’re really looking forward to welcoming you back.

What’s on

Bristol Photo Festival: Island Life - Photographs from the Martin Parr Foundation

EXHIBITION: Island Life takes over 60 photographs from the Martin Parr Foundation to provide a picture of life in post-war Britain. Part of Bristol Photo Festival.

Netsuke: Miniature masterpieces from Japan

EXHIBITION: For the first time, 75 netsuke from Bristol’s collection will go on display in the Eastern Art Gallery. These finely carved miniature sculptures were Japan’s solution to a lack of pockets in men’s kimono and other clothing.

The Bristol School of Artists revisited

ONLINE TALK: This talk will look at female creativity, how the artists dealt with rapid industrialization, and how their art was funded.

Bristol's stories

From Black history to Banksy, explore stories about Bristol and the world through the city’s objects, art and people.

See our stories

Explore our collections

Our first collections were brought together more than 200 years ago and we’ve been adding ot them ever since. From art to archaeology, history to industry, the natural and wider world, they are amongst the UK’s finest.

In 2012, the collections of the former British Empire and Commonwealth Museum were transferred to the care of Bristol Museums. Since then, we’ve been working to photograph and digitise the vast collection.