Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery: free entry, four floors covering fine art, natural history, Egyptian artefacts and Bristol's own past. Closed Mondays only.
The City Museum and Art Gallery is Bristol’s municipal collection, housed in a flamboyant Edwardian Baroque building at the top of Queens Road. It is genuinely excellent - more ambitious than most regional museums, free to enter, and deeply rewarding to spend a wet afternoon in.
Cost
Free entry. Donations welcomed. Special exhibitions may carry a small charge.
What to see
Ground floor: Egyptian mummies, a dinosaur skeleton, Banksy’s Paint-Pot Angel. First floor: Italian Renaissance, Impressionists (Sisley, Pissarro), strong British collection. Second floor: Bristol’s own history, including a difficult and honest section on the transatlantic slave trade. Third floor: natural history, minerals, taxidermy including Alfred the Gorilla.
When to visit
Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 - 17:00. Closed Mondays. Free on all open days.
Access
Full lift access, accessible toilets on ground floor, free cloakroom. Quiet hours on some mornings for visitors who prefer less noise.
This attraction is Stop 10 on the Bristol Insight circuit.