Plan your visit

To support the wellbeing of our staff and to ensure visitor safety, we have taken the decision to close The Red Lodge Museum until the beginning of April 2022, when the new season begins.

We appreciate this decision will be disappointing to those who take great comfort and pride from the city’s museums. We are equally disappointed – for us, preserving the city’s heritage and welcoming visitors is as much a vocation as a job, and a source of great satisfaction.

Our expert gallery staff have experienced high levels of sickness, either by contracting Covid or through self-isolation. Many of our staff are quite young and have only received one dose of the vaccination so far. This means they are still required to self-isolate if they are been in contact with the virus.

In addition, we have seen considerable turnover in our gallery staff. Even as those posts have been filled, there is a continued need for training and support for this skilled and responsible work.

Between now and April 2022, things will not stay still. Work will continue behind closed doors to care for the buildings themselves and the world class collections they contain. In addition, the gallery staff will work with the wider team to deliver an improved public offer from 2022.

We look forward to seeing you in the spring. In the meantime, both Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and M Shed are open as usual. Entry is free but pre-booking is recommended.

While it’s not quite the same as visiting in person, you can explore the Red Lodge through our 360° tour.