Clowns Gallery-Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1959 |
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| Location | Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, England |
| Type | Clowning museum |
The Clowns Gallery-Museum is a special place dedicated to the art of clowning. It opened in 1959. Here, you can see amazing costumes and props used by famous clowns. It also has a library and is home to the unique Clown Egg Register.
The Museum's Story
The Clowns Gallery-Museum has two locations in England. Part of its collection is in the Holy Trinity Church in Dalston, London. The other part is in Wookey Hole, Somerset.
The museum first started in Dalston in 1959. Later, in 2007, some of the collection moved to Wookey Hole. The Dalston museum is inside an old church room called a vestry. It almost closed in 2014, but luckily, it stayed open. The Wookey Hole museum is managed by Gerry Cottle, who is a leader in a group called Clowns International.
The Clown Egg Register
The Clown Egg Register is a very special collection. It's an archive of painted ceramic and hen's eggs. Each egg shows a clown's unique make-up design. This tradition started in 1946 with Stan Bult, a chemist. He was also a founder of Clowns International.
Stan Bult began drawing the faces of club members and famous clowns onto chicken eggs. The egg gallery was created to stop anyone from copying another clown's make-up. There's an unofficial rule that no two clowns should have the same face paint design. The eggs are perfect for showing these designs.
At first, real eggs were used. But later, they were replaced with stronger ceramic eggs. You can visit this amazing gallery on the first Friday of every month.
