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Birmingham Museums has extraordinary venues that provide a fascinating glimpse into Birmingham's rich and vibrant past and showcase world class museum collections. Sites include:Birmingham Museum & Art GalleryThinktank, Birmingham's Science MuseumAston HallBlakesley HallMuseum of the Jewellery QuarterSarehole MillSoho HouseWeoley CastleMuseums Collections Centre

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Christmases past, past and past - a journey through 400 years of festivities with Birmingham Museums Trust

Three different periods of Christmases past are explored at some of Birmingham Museums Trust’s historic properties in December, exploring the origins of lavish Christmas customs dating from Tudor times to the less salubrious ration-book cuisine of World War II at Blakesley Hall, Soho House & Aston Hall this December. Time travelling visitors can start their exploration of historic traditions at Blakesley Hall on 10 December, for a Tudor Christmas.  Professional historic re-enactors recreate a seasonal celebration from 1635, with music provided by traditional Tudor musicians as well as St

Even more Bang Bang for your buck from Birmingham Museums Trust

· World famous Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car on display at Thinktank as part of family exhibition ‘Mechanical THINGS’, exploring the Adventures and Inventions from the World of Rowland Emett and beyond · Santa brings festive cheer to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery as the Christmas grotto starts Saturday 3 DecemberThe movie has been a staple of festive viewing for over 40 years, but now the people of the West Midlands can enjoy seeing the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car in all of its winged glory as part of the Christmas line-up from Birmingham Museums Trust. The original car takes centre

‘Mummy-mania’ set to bring visitors to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s Egyptian Gallery

An alignment of Sunday night TV drama, Hallowe’en and an age-old enthusiasm for all things slightly macabre has curators in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s Egyptian gallery braced for a veritable Ra-ce of visitors during October half-term! “Inevitably, when Sunday night period drama focuses on a particular theme, the public’s interest is engaged and they often head out to find out more – with the new ‘Tutankhamun’ mini-series set to be next in line to fill the Downton Abbey void, we’re expecting a resurgence of interest in ancient Egypt – already perennially popular – over the coming

Birmingham Museums commemorate the Battle of the Somme centenery with rare new artefact

· A rare new artefact added to Blakesley Hall’s First World War exhibition – a tunic worn by a soldier from Birmingham, Arthur Brooke Turner, on the first day of the Somme · Free screenings of iconic film ‘The Battle of the Somme’ take place at Blakesley Hall with the first showing on Sunday 17thJulyBirmingham Museums is commemorating 100 years since the Battle of the Somme by hosting a series of film screenings of an iconic First World War propaganda film at Blakesley Hall – where a tunic worn by a Birmingham soldier on the first day of the Somme will be added to the site’s longstanding

Anything but civil: war comes to Aston Hall

Pikes & Muskets, Saturday 11 June 2016Honourable battles between flamboyant Royalists and austere Roundheads may be how the English Civil War is portrayed in films and on TV, but the reality of this bloody conflict was anything but civil, as visitors to Aston Hall’s Pikes & Muskets event on Saturday (11 June) will find out. The day of 17thcentury combat runs from 11.00am until 4.00pm within the grounds of Aston Hall, where visitors can hear the crack of rifle fire and hear the boom of cannons as part of this historic re-enactment event.  A crack unit of Royalist troops will muster to

Our food, our health and our planet: The Crunch Comes to Thinktank

Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, is fast becoming the Midlands hub of a national initiative aimed at helping people explore the links between food, how it is produced, and the impact that it has on ourselves and the planet.  The Crunch will see Thinktank’s team of expert educators head out into the community, to festivals and events around Birmingham. The Crunch team will be sharing workshops, discussions and activities, which will help families better understand the origins of their food and drink.  Visitors can continue their involvement at home, with a new game from the team

Tudor celebrations return to Blakesley Hall

Sunday 29 and Monday 20 May 2016From swordplay to Shakespeare, visitors for Blakesley Hall on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 May will be treated to a celebration of the historic house’s Tudor heritage, with re-enactments, living history, themed tours and interactive fun! Throughout the two day event, visitors will enjoy seeing the Tudor property and its grounds repopulated by historic interpreters – from Tudor musicians recreating the sounds of the sixteenth century, to craftspeople and traders showing their wares in a living history encampment. There will also be an opportunity to get involved

Turning to see: Van Dyck's last self-portrait comes to Birmingham

Opens Saturday 28 May 2016His work was the talk of society in the mid-17th century, when he bucked the trend for stiff formal portraits to paint in a more relaxed and informal style. From Saturday 28 May, the last and greatest self-portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck will form the centrepiece of a new exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, alongside works by Picasso, Rembrandt and Freud – Turning to See: From Van Dyck to Lucian Freud. Purchased for the nation for £10 million by the National Portrait Gallery after a hugely successful public fundraising campaign, supported by the Art

Curatorial debut for John Stezaker as Van Dyck self-portrait arrives in Birmingham

Turning to See: From Van Dyck to Lucian Freud opens Saturday 28 May 2016 at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery The media preview will be on Thursday 26 May.  John Stezaker (exhibition curator) and Lisa Beauchamp (Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at Birmingham Museums Trust) will be available for press interviews between 2pm-5pm on Thursday 26 May.Internationally renowned artist John Stezaker is making his curatorial debut at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery this month with a new exhibition, Turning to See: From Van Dyck to Lucian Freud, part of the national tour of Van Dyck’s last and

May Spring Bank Holiday events at Birmingham Museums

Saturday 28 May to Sunday 5 June 2016Walk like an Egyptian to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery this Spring Bank for a pharaoh-style life-after-death experience that includes studying mummy X-rays, building a pyramid and handling objects left in tombs for the long journey to the ‘afterlife’. There will even be a chance to find out what a mummy smells like, help create a giant collage sarcophagus and watch a mummification magic show. “Everyone loves Ancient Egypt, no matter how old or young. Throw in a mummy or two and people are transfixed, as these preserved bodies give us a real sense of

Something old and something new - vintage wedding dresses up close at Birmingham's Museums Collections Centre

Friday 20 May 2016If every wedding dress has a story to tell, visitors to an exclusive afternoon at the Museum Collections Centre in Nechells are in line for a very special treat, when they can see, touch and hear the stories of a number of vintage wedding dresses in the Birmingham Museums Trust collection. From the oldest wedding dress in the collection – first worn in 1730 – to vintage styles from the 1960s and ‘70s, participants will be able to examine the different techniques used to create the wearable artworks up close, perhaps drawing inspiration for their own designs. “Whether

Search is on for the next generation of artists in Birmingham

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery launches Inspire 16 competitionBudding artists of the future aged 11-19 are being invited to show off their skills in a new competition being organised by Birmingham Museum& Art Gallery, with the winners’ work set to take pride of place at the centre of this year’s Gas Hall summer show! The new competition, Inspire 16, has been created by the Birmingham Museums team to give young artists a superb platform for developing their skills and showcasing their work in the city’s top art gallery.  With their work being displayed in the same building as some of the

One year in: exhibition showcases newly-collected items telling Birmingham's story

Collecting Birmingham: stories that should be shared at the Museum of Jewellery Quarter - Now OpenA curious collection of items which illustrate working life in Birmingham’s Ladywood district – from a prison door from Winson Green Prison to crockery from the Grand Hotel – form a new display at the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, showing the first year’s discoveries from the Collecting Birmingham initiative. Collecting Birmingham is a three year project which aims to involve the community in deciding what items should be added to the Birmingham Museums collection, steering purchases of

A gem of an attraction receives top tourism award

Birmingham’s Museum of the Jewellery Quarter receives ‘Best Told Story’ accoladeThe tale of Birmingham’s Museum of the Jewellery Quarter is one of the best told in the country according to VisitEngland, which has awarded the attraction a prestigious ‘Best Told Story’ accolade following a recent assessment. The Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme is run by VisitEngland to provide visitors with an independent assessment of the quality of tourist attractions around the country.  Those that achieve the high standards required – with unannounced assessors reviewing all aspects of the experience,

A gem of an attraction receives top tourism award

Birmingham’s Museum of the Jewellery Quarter receives ‘Best Told Story’ accoladeA new package of group tours to Birmingham’s Museum of the Jewellery Quarter and a national tourism award reaffirm the unique attraction’s position as a must-see for any itinerary covering Birmingham and the West Midlands. The tours – which include a guided tour of the museum and refreshments in the on-site café – give visitors an insight into the life of a busy Birmingham jeweller; the museum itself is a time capsule, capturing how the original occupants left the Smith & Pepper workshop on their last day of

Perfumes, pencils and partnership preparations - exclusive events at Birmingham Museums

A curiously aromatic tour, an afternoon of vintage wedding dresses and an evening of social sketching are three of the more unusual happenings in the heart of Birmingham this spring, in a series of exclusive events at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Museum Collections Centre. One of London’s most highly-sought olfactory tour guides, Odette Toilette, will lead an intimate scented exploration of the museum’s world class collection of Pre-Raphaelite artworks on the evening of Friday 8 April.  She will be accompanied by curator Victoria Osborne for a perfumed expedition that adds the

Springing back to life: Birmingham Museums' heritage sites prepare for 2016 opening!

Spring rains will start powering the watermill at Sarehole Mill and the breeze will blow away the cobwebs at Aston Hall, Blakesley Hall and Soho House this Easter, when some of the region’s top heritage sites re-open for the 2016 visitor season. “As the tourist season gets into swing, so we prepare to launch another exciting year at our fantastic heritage sites around Birmingham, with the promise of an exciting year of tours, events and exhibitions set against the backdrop of the finest historic properties in the Midlands,” comments Marketing Manager for Birmingham Museums Trust, Andrea

UK’s biggest Ichthyosaurus goes on display at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum

New Marine Worlds gallery opens 25 March 2016Sixty one years after it was first discovered in a farmer’s field in Warwickshire, the opening of a major new gallery at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, this Easter, will see the skeleton of the UK’s largest example of Ichthyosaurus laid out in full for the first time ever. The fossil remains of this prehistoric marine reptile are almost 200 million years old and it swam in the sea at the same time as dinosaurs walked on land. It was found in 1955 by a farmer at Fell Mill Farm in Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire and was excavated by

Easter events at Birmingham Museums

Friday 25 March to Sunday 10 April 2016The Easter bunny meets dragons and dinosaurs in an assortment of egg hunts taking place at Birmingham Museums Trust’s venues this Easter as part of a cracking calendar of events for the school holidays that also feature authors, scientists, artists, jewellers - and the opening of a new gallery at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, for the amazing ichthyosaur, a giant swimming reptile from the time of the dinosaurs. Easter wouldn’t be Easter without a traditional Easter egg hunt but at Birmingham Museums the eggs come in all shapes and sizes and

Emerging artists showcase new art at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

New Art West Midlands 2016Recent art graduates from across the West Midlands are getting the chance to display their artwork to an international audience in one of the region’s top galleries, in a new exhibition now open in the Waterhall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.  It is one of a series of four exhibitions for New Art West Midlands 2016, organised by Turning Point West Midlands, the largest partnership of its kind in England promoting and developing contemporary art in the region. Amongst the artists featured in the series of exhibitions - all recent graduates from the region’s

Half-term family fun with Birmingham Museums

13 – 20 February 2016Live shows, craft activities, storytelling and even a chance to meet modern day firefighters – Birmingham Museums have a packed programme of family-friendly events to keep their young visitors entertained this half term! The devastating fire that ravaged the city of London in 1666 will be the focus of the week’s activities at Blakesley Hall, including the creation of a large collage to recreate the blaze on Tuesday 16 February. The following day, the story of the fire will be told by historic diarist, Samuel Pepys, in two performances of a short play about the

Arts Council accolade will bring top contemporary art to Birmingham

Birmingham Museums Trust is celebrating after being selected as one of only four venues around the UK to become Arts Council Collection National Partners, which will bring exciting contemporary arts exhibitions and £600,000 of funding to host them over the next three years. The announcement made today (Tuesday 2 February ) will provide a huge boost for Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s (BMAG) international profile as a centre for modern art, as well as providing exhibitions for other venues operated by the Trust, including Thinktank at Millennium Point and several heritage properties

Faith in Birmingham - a new gallery at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Opens 5 February 2016World-class exhibits – including the Sultanganj Buddha and pages from one of the world’s oldest surviving Qur’ans – will help launch a new exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on 5 February, when its Faith in Birmingham gallery opens to the public.The much-anticipated gallery provides a unique insight into many of the faith groups that make up Birmingham’s diverse communities, exploring their traditions, beliefs and customs in an accessible and welcoming environment. “This exhibition explores the role that faith plays in the lives of many of Birmingham’s

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