The Holburne Museum houses the art collection of Sir William Holburne who lived in Bath in the 19th Century. Holburne was well know for his collection which included works such as the unique Susini once owned by King Louis XIV and paintings by Gainsborough, who also was a resident in Bath for some time.
The museum is located at the end of Great Pultney Street and can be seen from afar. Once you get right up close to the museum it looks a little less stately and a little more homely. Sydney Gardens is located directly behind the main building.
Walking through the main entrance you come to the reception where you can buy your tickets. It's 4.50 for adults, free for students of Bath and Bath SpaUniversity and concessions for the over 65s and children.
The guest
exhibit is in a room off to the left. It's suprisingly small and although they manage to fit in quite a lot of information there is always that feeling that there perhaps could have been more. The guest exhibits vary a lot and are very interesting. I've been to two, one about Penguin Books and it's origins, which included lots of information and illustrations from the process of establishing it as a company. I also saw the Canaletto & the English Pleasure Garden exhibit which was based around two fantastic paintings by Canaletto. The theme explores the phenomenon of the Georgian Pleasure Garden. Both informative and interesting. There's plently of variation between the items they show, so a bit of a mix.
On the other floors are the perminant exhibits. The first floor houses the decorative arts such as silverware and furniture and the second floor houses paintings, including many beautiful portraits and a few haunting ones. The second floor also holds a grand piano which is some times borrowed for practice by operatic performers. So sometimes the top floor is a little louder than the others! It's beautiful though and I'd prefer it if that was always going on! For those interested in instruments there are a few other pianos from the 18th and 19th century which are good to look at.
Just outside of the second floor room is a small childrens area, which has a reasonable amount of play-things and some chairs to sit on. Also it looks as if the children get involved with the art here too as the drawings on the walls seem to be themed. It's a great little area for if your kids don't quite share your attention span when it comes to looking and reading about the paintings.
The Holburne runs outreach programmes, events for children such as trips and chances to get hands on with art materials (such as clay) which is fun and educational. They also run adult talks and performances. These run mostly during the day, usually over the lunch period and leaflets can be found on site or in the Bath Magazine. The performances can range from classic instruments, so a harpist or a pianist might feature. Usually there's a theme to the performance such as a specific composer. The talks are usually historical and can include themes such as costume and dress, music and daily life. I'd love to go to some of these events if I wasn't at work!
To the left side of the main entrance, past the pillars, is a tearoom. It's inside of a gingerbread house style of outbuilding and is very sweet. It's basic on the inside but I rather like this about it. They sell tea, coffee, hot chocolate and other beverages as well as cake and tiffin (which is excellent!), all at phenomenally cheap prices for Bath. It's about a pound something, which is what it should be but you wont find this anywhere else in Bath. You can sit ouside as well. The staff here are so friendly and polite, as are the staff in the main building. Definately a must if you're going to visit the museum.
Directly behind the main building, and accessable through the same way as the tearooms, is Sydney Gardens which is a beautiful park (my favourite in Bath) that leads to the canal - which if you're here you should really visit...under the little bridges and out on to the towpath again and you'll see one of the best views in Bath.
The Holburne is an interesting museum with a lovely family feel to it. Unfortunately it's closed until 2010 as they're building an extra bit on the end...I'm not sure if it's going to look alright as it's steel and glass and the rest of the building is Bath Stone...so I'll wait until it's been built to pass comment.
Worth visiting!
Pictures of Holburne Museum of Art
Holburne Museum
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