Museum sights in Bristol
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A
SS Great Britain
In 1843 Brunel designed the mighty SS Great Britain, the first transatlantic steamship to be driven by a screw propeller. For 43 years the ship served as a luxury ocean-going liner and cargo vessel, but huge running costs and mounting debts meant she was eventually sold off to serve as a troopship and coal hulk, a sorry fate for such an important vessel. By 1937 she was no longer watertight and was abandoned near Port Stanley in the Falklands, before finally being towed back to Bristol in 1970.
Since then a massive 30-year restoration program has brought SS Great Britain back to stunning life. The ship's rooms have been refurbished in impeccable detail, including the galle…
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B
British Empire & Commonwealth Museum
Bristol's slave-trading past is thoughtfully explored at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum. Dealing with the history and consequences of British colonial conquest, the 16 galleries range over 500 years of British trade, exploration and exploitation, and while there's a conscious attempt at perspective, it's hard not to be moved by the stories of subjugation that underpinned Britain's imperial rise.
Highlights include sepia-toned films from the Empire's heyday and a collection of outfits worn by colonial administrators, Indian viceroys and tribal chiefs. Breaking the Chains, marking the bicentenary of the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1807, interweaves film, music and…
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C
Blaise Castle House Museum
In the northern suburb of Henbury is this late-18th-century house and social-history museum. Displays include vintage toys, costumes and other Victorian ephemera. Bus 43 (45 minutes, every 15 minutes) passes the castle from Colston Ave; bus 1 (20 minutes, every 10 minutes) from St Augustine's Pde doesn't stop quite as close, but is quicker and more frequent.
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D
City Museum & Art Gallery
Housed in a stunning Edwardian building near the university. There's a collection of British and French art on the 1st floor, along with galleries dedicated to ceramics and decorative arts. Look out for the 'Bristol Boxkite' above reception, a pioneering canvas aeroplane built in Bristol and made famous in the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. On the ground floor is the archaeological, geological and natural history wings, as well as the refurbished Egyptian Gallery.
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E
Explore-At-Bristol
On Bristol's revived harbourside is one of the country's leading science centres, Explore-At-Bristol. It's crammed with hundreds of hands-on exhibits demonstrating the everyday applications of science, with zones spanning ingenious inventions, optical illusions, outer-space technology and the human brain. Strum on a virtual harp, freeze your shadow, become a virtual sperm or journey across the solar system in the amazing domed Planetarium.
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F
City Museum & Art Gallery
Housed in a stunning Edwardian baroque building, the City Museum & Art Gallery has an excellent collection of British and French art; galleries dedicated to ceramics and decorative arts; and archaeological, geological and natural-history wings.
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