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Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery - wide ranging collections and Egypt Gallery

British Empire and Commonwealth Museum Bristol at Temple Meads station

Visit SS Great Britain, the first propeller driven ocean going ship

SS Great Britain - a family day out down at Bristol's old docks

Also see The Matthew, replica of John Cabot's ship sailed to America in 1497

Bristol's Industrial Musuem will be reopened at Bristol's docks

Bristol's docks were once the commercial centre of the city

@Bristol Science and Discovery Centre is a family focussed with interactive displays

Displays in the Bristol city centre for exhibitions at the musuems

Pero's Bridge so called to acknowledge the role the slave trade played in Bristol's culture

City of Bristol Museums

You can spend several days just exploring the wealth of museums in Bristol. All the Bristol City Council run museums are free (although donations do help). These include the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Blaise Castle House Museum, Georgian House Museum, the Red Lodge Museum, Kingsweston Roman Villa and the Museum of Bristol when it opens.

In addition, the highly acclaimed British Empire and Commonwealth Museum is set in the Brunel-designed Temple Meads Railway Station. @Bristol is a complex full of family oriented science and exploratory displays and interactive activities. In the heart of the city and the magnificent SS Great Britain on the Harbourside and its accompanying Maritime Museum investigate the maritime history of Bristol. Many of the museums within Bristol have a changing array of exhibitions often related to Bristol's role in history.

Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery

Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery is in a grand Edwardian Baroque building near the University on Queens Road. The lower floors of the museum house collections ranging from archaeology, natural history and the recently opened Egyptian Gallery. The upper floors contain art galleries - check our Art Galleries webpage for more information.

Apart from the obligatory legacy of Victorian stuffed birds and animals, the natural history exhibits in the City Museum include a freshwater aquarium and a fantastic collection of fossils including sea dragons. There is an excellent geology collection including a particularly beautiful display of brightly coloured crystals, some with bizarre, knobbly shapes.

The Egypt Gallery is the latest permanent addition to the Museum on the ground floor. This broadens the understanding of Ancient Egypt by taking you through displays themed Belief, Life, Death and Afterlife. Actual sarcophaguses and mummy's bandages, figurines and statues are among the 500 objects on display. Interactive touch screens at child-height help make it enjoyable for all the family and your comments are welcomed in the Explore and Respond area.

The Museum itself is worth a look with its grand staircases and light and airy balconies. There is also a shop for gifts, prints of the paintings in the art gallery and books. The cafe serves up tea and cake which can make a welcome break between exhibits. The Museum and Art Gallery is open 7 days a week, 10am-5pm. Admission is free. Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Road, West End, Bristol BS8 1RL. Tel: 0117 922 3571. Fax: 0117 922 2047. Email: general.museum@bristol.gov.uk

The Georgian House Museum - Bristol's Slave Trade

Bristol thrived during the eighteenth century from the increase in Atlantic trade linked to its port as Britain's Empire expanded to the American colonies. This included the slave trade and Bristol along with Liverpool was a main centre with more than two thousand slaving ships being fitted out in Bristol during its peak. Much of Bristol's wealth was tied in to the trading of slaves which provided the money to purchase goods to bring back into Britain such as sugar, coffee and tobacco.

The Georgian House stems from this time and is a former merchant's house built in 1790. John Pinney, a West India sugar merchant lived here and the house has been decorated to show what it would have looked like during this period in history. Although few people were brought into Britain as slaves John Pinney lived in The Georgian House with his slave Pero.

Pero's Bridge, the modern bridge with the trumpet like decoration down at Bristol's Harbourside, has been named after Pero as an acknowledgement of the injustices of the slave trade, but also to act as a reminder that this was part and parcel of Bristol's history. The uglier part of Bristol's history has only been hinted at in the past, but is now openly acknowledged and accepted as much can be learnt from looking at this period in history. Being such a centre Bristol played its part in the Abolitionist movement too. Thomas Clarkson, a prominent member of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the eighteenth century rode around Britain gathering evidence to support this cause. His travels naturally brought him to Bristol where he was able to gather a lot of information on the port and the trade particularly from the landlord of the Seven Stars pub which still stands on Thomas Lane south of the Floating Harbour.

Bristol commemorated the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade by hosting a wide range of exhibitions relating to this period of history and you can follow the Sugar Trail from The Georgian House which shows how the slave trade in fact shaped much of Bristol. You can also download Mp3 audio tours from the Visit Bristol website (link right) including "The Slave Trade Trail". The Georgian House is open Sat-Weds 10am-5pm. Closed Thurs-Fri. It is just off Park Street at Great George Street, Bristol BS1 5RR. General enquiries: 0117 921 1362.

British Empire and Commonwealth Museum Bristol

The award winning British Empire and Commonwealth Museum is the first of its kind in Britain. Housed in Grade I listed buildings that form part of Brunel's spectacular 19th century Temple Meads railway station, it aims to present the 500 year history and the legacy of the British Empire. Not always a popular subject, the Museum looks at the sometimes disturbing history of the British Empire but examines how that has affected the multicultural Britain we see today. It was felt that Bristol was a good location for the museum due to its role in world exploration and links with world trade and shipbuilding.

Not only is a visit to the Museum an excellent way to find out more about this controversial part of Britain's history, but the online photographic archive has some amazing photos that help show the landscapes, life and cultures from all over the world during that period. Check the Museum's own website, weblink right. The whole venue can be hired for events in the Brunel Boardroom, Museum Galleries or the Passenger Shed. The Passenger Shed is the largest able to host huge events of up to 900 people!

The museum houses sixteen galleries all with interactive exhibits The Museum is run as a charity so charges an entrance fee. Children under 5 can enter free and there is a family ticket available. Open every day of the week except over the Christmas period. 10am-5pm. Last admission is at 4.30pm.

The British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, Clock Tower Yard, Temple Meads, Bristol BS1 6QH. Tel: 0117 925 4980. Fax: 0117 925 4983.

The Red Lodge Museum

The Red Lodge is older having been built in 1580 as a lodge to a Great House that has long since gone. Red Lodge contains an array of rooms superbly preserved that demonstrate examples of Elizabethan, Stuart and Georgian styles. The highlight of the Lodge is the wood panelled Great Oak Room which is considered to be one of the finest Elizabethan rooms in the West Country.

You'll find The Red Lodge Museum in one of the older parts of Bristol's centre next to Colston Hall that has been built on the site of the house the Lodge would have served. Being a Tudor house there is limited access due to flights of stairs and no lifts.

Open Sat-Weds 10am-5pm. Closed Thurs and Friday. The Red Lodge, Park Row, Bristol BS1 5LJ. General enquiries: 0117 921160.

Brunel's SS Great Britain

SS Great Britain is the majestic ship moored on a glass "sea" down on Bristol's Harbourside. SS Great Britain was the first propeller driven ocean going ship to have a hull made out of iron and was the largest floating vessel in 1843 when it was launched. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of the ship's designers and it was built in a dry dock in Bristol where it returned in 1970 for restoration.

Today you can explore the ship assisted by an "audio companion" (available in several languages) and find out all about life on a nineteenth century ocean liner helped along with the smells of the time - not all of them the most pleasant! The glass sea it's sat in gives you an idea of how the ship would have sat in the water, but is also part of the conservation of the ship as below the glass waterline dehumidifiers are used to stall corrosion that threatens to rot the ship away. There are often a range of events held on the ship too so check the SS Great Britain website for up-to-date listings, weblink right.

Open daily: Apr-Oct 10am-6pm, last entry 5pm. Nov-Mar 10am-4.30pm, last entry 3.30pm. Closed 17, 24 and 25 December. The ship is accessible by wheelchairs that have been specially designed to fit through the cabin door, and there are ramps and lifts for those with limited mobility. Where access is difficult due to the nature of the boat alternative routes are available. Sign language video guides for both adults and children and audio guides specially recorded for blind and partially sighted visitors are also available. There is a gift shop in the SS Great Britain complex and waterfront cafes nearby. You can even hire the ship for functions. There is plenty of car parking around the waterfront too so it makes a good starting point for exploring Bristol.

Brunel's SS Great Britain, Great Western Dockyard, Gas Ferry Road, Bristol BS1 6TY. Tel: 0117 926 0680. Fax: 0117 925 5788. Email: admin@ssgreatbritain.org.

Bristol's Industrial Museum - Museum of Bristol

On the Harbourside on Princes Wharf the former Industrial Museum is undergoing a facelift and will open in 2009 as the new Museum of Bristol. The multi-million pound project will take place behind the original port sheds and will create interactive, state-of-the-art displays and audio visual interpretations of the city's history and culture. Personal accounts from Bristolians will help the visitor and present day inhabitant to explore what makes Bristol Bristol today.

There will also be exhibition space over three floors including a rooftop gallery. Cafe, shop and conferencing facilities will also be available. Check the Visit Bristol site for updates on progress.

@Bristol Science and Discovery Centre

At Bristol houses the Explore Bristol family oriented attractions in impressive modern buildings around Millennium Square. Head for the giant silver sphere or follow the signs for the Tourist Information Office as it's housed in the same building. Here you can buy tickets for the At Bristol attractions that include Explore Bristol and the Planetarium. It was until recently complemented by an IMAX Theatre but unfortunately this has now closed.

Explore Bristol is an interactive science centre with hands-on activities and live shows. There's plenty of things to do to keep you occupied for hours and is aimed at all ages - excellent for rainy days. The silver sphere is the Planetarium where you can find out all about the stars and planets from the Seasonal Night Sky Shows. Access to the Planetarium is free with a ticket to Explore. Explore Bristol also has a changing programme of exhibitions for all ages. Check the weblink right for more information.

Explore-At-Bristol, At Bristol, Anchor Road, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5DB. Tel: 0845 345 1235. Fax: 0117 915 7200. Email: information@at-bristol.org.uk

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