Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery facts for kids
entrance side of the museum
|
|
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
| Established | 1874 |
|---|---|
| Location | Blackburn |
| Collections | Japanese Print, Cotton Town the Manuscript, Numismatic |
| Owner | Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council |
|
Listed Building – Grade II
|
|
| Official name: Blackburn Museum | |
| Designated: | 1 August 1995 |
| Reference #: | 1223411 |
The Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery is a cool place to visit in Blackburn. It's a local museum and art gallery for the area of Blackburn with Darwen. The museum has many interesting things to see.
You can explore collections of Christian icons, which are special religious artworks. There are also Egyptian hieroglyphs, which are ancient Egyptian writings. Plus, you can learn about the history of the local area. It also holds items from the old Lewis Textile Museum.
Contents
The Museum Building
The museum is located in a very special building. It's on the corner of Museum Street and Richmond Terrace. This building is a Grade II listed building. This means it's an important historical building that needs to be protected.
The building first opened in 1874. Back then, it was an art gallery and a library. The library was on the ground floor, and the art gallery was on the first floor. The building was made bigger in 1893 to hold more items.
In the 1970s, the library moved to a new spot. This gave the museum more room. It could then show off its amazing collections of local and social history. The museum's roof was fixed recently. Work started in July 2023 and finished in March 2024.
The Lewis Textile Museum Collection
The museum also looks after the collection from the Lewis Textile Museum. This museum used to be a separate place. But now, all its items have moved into the main Blackburn Museum building.
The gallery that holds these items is now called Cottontown. It has a collection of looms. Looms are machines used to weave fabric, like cotton. The Lewis Textile Museum collection was given to the town by Thomas Boys Lewis. He was a local businessman who worked in the cotton industry.
What You Can See: Collections
The Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery has many amazing collections. One of the most famous is the Japanese Print Collection. Thomas Boys Lewis, the same person who gave the textile collection, also collected these prints.
There are also the Manuscript and Numismatic Collections. A manuscript is an old document written by hand. Numismatic means relating to coins or money. These collections were given to the museum by Edward Hart. The museum also has a special Icon Collection.
You can also see the Victoria Cross medal at the museum. This medal was given to Marcus Ervine-Andrews. He was the last Irish person to receive this very brave award. He went to school at Stonyhurst College.
Past Exhibitions
The museum often hosts interesting exhibitions. In 2006, the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery was part of a traveling exhibition called C21. This exhibition was part of a big art event in Fukuoka, Japan. News about the exhibition was shared by places like the BBC.
See also
- Listed buildings in Blackburn
