Established 1874 (1874) Website blackburnmuseum.org.uk Designated 1 August 1995 | Location Blackburn Official name Blackburn Museum Phone +44 1254 667130 | |
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Collections Japanese Print, Cotton Town the Manuscript, Numismatic Address Museum St, Blackburn BB1 7AJ, UK Hours Open today · 12–4:45PMFriday12–4:45PMSaturday12–4:45PMSundayClosedMondayClosedTuesdayClosedWednesday12–4:45PMThursday12–4:45PM Owner Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Similar Corporation Park - Blackburn, Witton Country Park, Haworth Art Gallery, Lewis Textile Museum, Blackburn Cathedral Profiles | ||
Blackburn museum and art gallery
The Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery is the local museum service for the borough of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. It is a museum with collections of Christian icons, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and local history, as well as those of the former Lewis Textile Museum.
Contents
The building
The museum is in a Grade II listed building, on the corner of Museum Street and Richmond Terrace. It was originally opened as an art gallery and library in 1874, with the library occupying the ground floor and the art gallery on the first floor. The building was enlarged in 1893. In the 1970s, the library moved to Town Hall Street, occupying the former premises of the Co-operative Central Store, providing more space for the display of the local and social history collections which formed Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery.
Lewis Textile Museum
The museum service was also responsible for the Lewis Textile Museum before it was closed. The contents of the Lewis Textile Museum have now been moved into the main museum building on Museum Street and the gallery which houses the collection of looms renamed Cottontown. The Lewis Textile Museum was bequeathed by Thomas Boys Lewis, a local cotton industrialist.
Collections
The most notable collections include the Japanese Print Collection which was amassed by Thomas Boys Lewis, Cotton Town the Manuscript and Numismatic Collections, both of which were bequeathed by Edward Hart and the Icon Collection Cotton Town.
Exhibitions
In 2006, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery took part in the touring exhibition, C21, which was part of the Fukuoka Asian Art Trinennale. Reviews of the exhibition were reported by agencies such as the BBC.