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Plymouth has a vast array of cultural experiences on offer to suit all tastes and budgets.
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| Plymouth City Musuem & Art Gallery. |
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Since 1910, Plymouth City Museum has conserved and displayed some of the city's most remarkable heritage pieces. Today it spans five locations, offering various experiences for the visitor interested in Plymouth's distinguished history.
Over the last century the Museum has bought and restored the Elizabethan House on New Street, Merchant House on St Andrews Street, and Smeaton's Tower on Plymouth Hoe.
The Museum also operates the Dome on the seafront, which provides a walk-through tour of local history. So whether you want to find out what it was like to live in the Barbican during the nineteenth century, climb an original lighthouse or take a whistle-stop tour of Plymouth's names and faces - the City Museum's got it all.
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| Art. |
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The Museum's art collections have been amassed through donation and bequest. The South West's rich artistic tradition is reflected in the size of the Museum's collection - it owns almost 9000 paintings, drawings and sculptures, dating back to the 16th century.
As might be expected, the coastline and countyside are popular subjects, and you can see the history and development of land and coast in many of the works. This growing trend was kick-started by a number of prominent artists who visited the South West in the early twentieth century - Turner, Whistler and Sickert ot name but three - and taken up by a group of artists who became known as the St Ives Painters. The collection houses several paintings by this group, which came to include Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood and Naum Gabo.
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| Decorative Art. |
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The Museum keeps an extensive selection of decorative pieces from the famous Plymouth and Bristol tradition, as well as an excellent overview of many other traditions.
Pottery and ceramics made by artists including Dorothy Doughty, Bernard Moore and the Martin Brothers can also be enjoyed. Along with the ceramics, the Museum offers a selection of glass, furniture, costumers and textiles, and some pieces of interest made by Plymouth silversmiths. |
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| The Cottonian Collection. |
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Perhaps the Museum's most famous collection is the Cottonian Collection. Begun by Robert Townson pre-1707 and then built up by Charles Rogers, it's a collection created with enthusiasm and expertise.
The incredible array of oil paintings and fine prints reflects Roger's taste and judgement. Along with some 7000 prints, the collection features watercolours, sculpture, furniture, ceramics and much material from the artist Joshua Reynolds. There are many beautiful works recording centuries of history. It was given to the Museum in 1852 and has justly become a City treasure. |
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| Studying Sir Joshua Reynolds. |
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One of the Cottonian Collection's claims to fame is its significant material relating to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Charles Rogers became part of Reynolds's circle in the eighteenth century and commissioned a portrait in 1777. Rogers 's descendant William Cotton pursued the Reynolds collection and added more pieces to the Collection, before giving it to the Museum in 1852.
Sir Joshua Reynolds is a name that needs no explanation to anyone who has studied the South West artistic tradition. Born in Plymouth and sent to London and Rome to study art, Reynolds became an accomplished portrait-painter and much sought-after by eighteenth-century aristocracy. A renowned networker, Reynolds kept a fine home in London and had no shortage of clients. He painted Josiah Wedgwood, Joseph Banks and David Garrick. Reynolds also set up a Literary Society near his London home, and mingled with literary names including Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith.
He went on to become the very first President of the Royal Academy , and was later appointed Royal Painter by George III . His works offer a glimpse into social history, subjects often painted with their families at home, and are characterised by a vivid use of colour - probably a result of Reynolds's time in Italy. |
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Natural and Human History. |
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The Museum's Natural and Human History collections provide a glimpse of Plymouth 's social past. Archaeology artefacts from Plymouth , Devon and South Hams include prehistoric finds from Dartmoor and relics of medieval Plymouth.
Meanwhile, the Social History section features a collection of early kitchen equipment, photographs and medals depicting the lives and losses of Plymouth residents. The Museum also houses the collection of prolific explorer Gertrude Benham, the first woman to climb Mount Kilimanjaro . Her collection contains social and archaeological finds from all over the world.
In Natural History, you can wander around the Marine Fauna Collection, containing more than 3000 creatures discovered by the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth Sound; you can marvel at 800 bird specimens, 90,000 insects collected in Plymouth and Cornwall , and three ancient botanical collections from the South West. It's a haven for anyone with an interest in Plymouth 's natural and marine surroundings. |
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Elizabethan House. |
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Re-live the day of a genuine sea-captain in Elizabethan House, a beautiful Tudor building in the Barbican. The Museum has restored and furnished this home as it might have looked when a wealthy Naval officer lived there, centuries ago.
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Merchant House. |
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Take the children along to Merchant House on St Andrews Street - for a lesson in social history they won't forget. One room houses an entire chemist's branch, complete with counter and lotions; through another door, you'll step into a Victorian schoolroom. Plymouth 's history is presented in a vivid manner, including a marvellous Blitz display complete with Anderson shelter. |
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Visiting the Museum. |
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