Henbury steam train outside M Shed
Bristol museum bosses are celebrating after it emerged they had attracted more than one million people in a year for the first time.
Some 1,031,714 people have come throughout the year to explore Bristol’s museums, galleries, collections, exhibitions and archives.
Venues include Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, the Georgian House, Red Lodge, Blaise Castle Museum, Kingsweston Roman Villa and the Bristol Record Office.
The figures have been swelled significantly by the opening of the M-Shed museum on the city’s waterfront. Last month, visitor numbers to the museum, which opened in May last year, passed the half a million mark alone.
Nevertheless, Julie Finch - head of Bristol’s museum service – described the figures as “incredible” and looked forward to a new boost with the Jubilee celebrations approaching.
“We have always sought to open up our museums to a wide audience and inspire those who visit to come back again and discover something new,” she said.
“Of course the opening of M Shed and its half a million visitors has made a massive contribution to visit numbers. And now with the opening of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, we are looking at tens of thousands of additional visitors coming to the City Museum & Art Gallery in the next few weeks.”
Ten drawings by Leonardo da Vinci: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration from the Royal Collection, are now open to the public at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and will be on show until June 10.
The free exhibition will be one of Bristol’s leading events taking place in the city to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen and will remain in Bristol over the extended June bank holiday weekend, placing a national and international spotlight on the city.
