Sheffield’s Museums

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SHEFFIELD'S MUSEUMS, GREAT BRITAIN

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Sheffield's museums are managed by two distinct organisations. Museums Sheffield manages the Weston Park Museum , Millennium Galleries and Graves Art Gallery. Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust manages the museums dedicated to Sheffield's industrial heritage of which there are three. Kelham Island Museum (located just to the North of the city centre) showcases the city's history of steel manufacturing. Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet (in the south of the city) is a Grade I Listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Shepherd Wheel (in the south-East of the city) is a former waterpowered grinding workshop, Grade II listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The Millennium Gallery is Sheffield's premier destination for art, craft and design. Here you can see some of Sheffield's unique heritage, including the metalwork which made the city world famous, alongside contemporary art and design exhibitions. The Millennium Gallery is an art gallery and museum in the centre of Sheffield, England. Opened in April 2001 as part of Sheffield's Heart of the City project, it is located in the city centre close to the mainline station, the Central Library and Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield Hallam University, and Sheffield Theatres. Designed by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt, the building is primarily made from concrete and glass, with a series of galleries extending from a central avenue, which connects Arundel Gate with Sheffield Winter Garden. In 2011, the gallery was listed as the 15th most-visited free attraction in the country by Visit England. It is managed by Museums Sheffield. The gallery has two permanent collections, two temporary exhibition spaces, space for corporate events and weddings, and a cafe and shop. Opened in 2001 and featuring over 1,800 square metres of exhibition space, the Gallery is the permanent home of

Sheffield's unique Metalwork Collection and Ruskin Collection of art and artefacts and plays host to major temporary exhibitions of art, craft, fashion and design. exhibition metalwork artefact art

Ruskin Collection. Eminent Victorian scholar John Ruskin established a collection of material he hoped would inspire Sheffield's workforce at the newly founded St George's Museum, Walkley, Sheffield in 1875. The collection of watercolours, drawings, prints, plaster casts, minerals, illustrated books, manuscripts and coins is owned by the Guild of St George and managed by Museums Sheffield at the Millennium Gallery. The gallery displaying it was refurbished in 2011, to allow more frequent rotation of items from the collection which is too large and fragile to display at any one time.

Metalwork Collection. Sheffield's metalwork collection comprises more than 13,000 objects and has been awarded Designated Collection status by DCMS, signifying a “preeminent collection of national and international importance held in England's non national museums”. The collection includes what is probably the most extensive grouping of Sheffield-made cutlery, flatware and holloware (e.g. bowls, teapots, containers) in existence and was amassed as a reference collection; showcasing examples of excellent design and high quality craftsmanship from around the world to inspire the city's manufacturers, designers and makers.

Craft & Design. The Craft & Design gallery is a temporary exhibition space intended to build on the tradition of the Ruskin and Metalwork collections in providing creative inspiration through examples of excellence. Following the theme of historic and contemporary craft and design, recent exhibitions have included Kill Your Darlings by Kid Acne and Graphic Nature in 2011, Under the Sea in 2012, and Designed to Shine in 2013, marking the 100th anniversary of the discovery of stainless steel in Sheffield.

Special Exhibitions. The special exhibition space is the largest in Sheffield and was designed to accommodate major touring exhibitions from national partners such as the

V&A and Tate. Major exhibitions in recent years include Vivienne Westwood: the Exhibition in 2008, Watercolour in Britain and Restless Times in 2010, John Martin:

Painting the Apocalypse in 2011, The Family in British Art and Paul Morrison:

Auctorum in 2012 and Force of Nature: Picturing Ruskin's Landscape in 2013.

The building was designed as part of Sheffield's Heart of the City regeneration project, linking the train station with the city centre. Set into a gentle slope, the glass and concrete exterior is quietly understated and elegant; part of a sleek new look for this old steel city. Inside, natural light creates a calming effect in the main `avenue' of the building, from which the four exhibition spaces are accessed. The rear entrance to the Gallery backs on to the spectacular Winter Garden, one of the largest temperate glasshouses in the UK. Since opening, the Millennium Gallery has welcomed many of the UK's finest touring exhibitions, including shows from V&A, Tate, and the National

Portrait Gallery. Highlights have included Constable, Vivienne Westwood: The Exhibition, The European Design Show, Restless Times: Art in Britain 1914-1945 and

Made in Sheffield. The Gallery currently welcomes around 800,000 visitors each year.

The Graves Gallery is the home of Sheffield's visual art collection. Situated above the Central Library, away from the noise and traffic of the city centre, the Gallery is a peaceful haven for visitors to enjoy the city's art and a programme of temporary exhibitions. Famous names on show at the Graves include Turner and Sisley, while more recent artists include Damien Hirst, Bridget Riley, Sam Taylor-Wood, and Marc Quinn. Local heroes include George Fullard, Derrick Greaves and Stanley Royle.

The Central Library and Graves Gallery (on the 3rd floor of the building) was officially opened in July 1934 and was dedicated to `the service of knowledge and art'. It was a

state of the art facility fitted with `heating…by invisible panel system', `artificial ventilation', `synchronised electric clocks' and five different lifts.

The building was partly funded by local businessman John George Graves (1866-1945). He established one of the country's first mail order companies and gave generously to the city. In 1929 he offered Ј30,000 to Sheffield specifying that Ј20,000 should be spent on an art gallery, with the rest going towards the Library. Originally, the Library and Gallery were to form one side of a large new civic square in the city centre, however the rest of the scheme was abandoned after the Second World War. As a result, the magnificent Art Deco frontage of the building is not easy to view from the distance originally intended. J G Graves was a passionate art collector and donated nearly 700 paintings to Sheffield's collection. His tastes in art were wide ranging and his main criteria for buying a work was whether he liked it or not. This led to a very diverse collection and many of his purchases are still on display at the Graves today. A haven in the heart of the city. Visitors to the Graves appreciate the soothing, contemplative ambience of the Gallery - a creative haven away from the bustle of the street below. Though the Millennium Gallery a short distance away now receives larger exhibitions, the Graves still plays an important role both as the primary home of Sheffield's visual art collection and as host to significant touring shows. Exhibition highlights over the years have included William Blake, Leonardo da Vinci, and photography from Angus McBain, Robert Mapplethorpe and Tom Hunter. The Gallery currently welcomes around 50,000 visitors each year.

Weston Park is an award-winning, family-friendly museum where the visitors come first. If visiting with children, simply wind up and release, but there is plenty of treasure here for adults too. Discover the real story of Sheffield, from its geological roots to the people, politics and music that shaped the modern city.

Alongside old favourites such as Snowy the Polar Bear and Spike the Woolly Rhino, Weston Park plays host to a series of temporary exhibitions.

Weston Park museum opened its doors to the public in 1875, under the guidance of its first curator, Elijah Howarth. Formerly a private property known as Weston House, it had been converted by architect E.M.Gibbs to house the collections given to the city by Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society. In addition to important natural history and antiquities collections, the museum displayed a small collection of topographical views and portraits of Sheffield's great and good. The museum also very quickly developed a collection of the applied arts for which Sheffield became famous - and one of the first galleries in the original building was devoted to the processes and skills involved in the various manufacturing industries.

In 1887, the adjoining Mappin Art Gallery was built to house the collection of work bequeathed to the city by the Rotherham businessman John Newton Mappin. Designed by Flockton & Gibbs, the new neo-classical pavilion in a Grecian-Ionic style was linked to the north side of the existing museum, leaving the original building unaltered. Between 1934 and 1937 local businessman and philanthropist J G Graves funded a major redevelopment of what was to be known as the Sheffield City Museum and Mappin Art Gallery. The project saw the remaining original parts of Weston House demolished and rebuilt, as well as the addition of a first floor extension for the art gallery.

In December 1940 the Mappin Art Gallery suffered a direct hit in the Sheffield Blitz, destroying a significant part of the building and damaging much of the rest. During the 1950s and 1960s the City Museum remained open to the public, whilst the Mappin Art Gallery was left in its partially demolished state after the structure had been made safe. In 1965 funding for the rebuilding of the art gallery was made available. Under direction of Lewis Womersley (also responsible for the Park Hill housing estate), Sheffield City Council architects saw the three galleries which best survived the bombing restored to their original design, whilst the original main gallery and the adjacent gallery were rebuilt as a combined single modern space.

Piecemeal alterations took place during the 1970s and 1980s, but by 2003 both the Museum and Gallery were in a poor state, leading to a major Ј19m refurbishment programme led by Museums Sheffield. As a result, the Mappin Art Gallery and City Museum were consolidated into a single entity; Weston Park museum, so named because that's what the majority of visitors had called the building for years previously.

The renovated museum, which now sits proudly in its namesake park (also restored to former glory in recent years) has retained the best of its existing architecture with additional features to create a building fit for its modern purpose. As well as bricks and mortar, many of the much-loved former residents, such as Snowy the Polar Bear, have been kept as part of the new museum.

Since re-opening in 2006, Weston Park museum has surpassed all visitor targets and now welcomes almost 300,000 visitors each year. As well as the permanent galleries which tell the story of Sheffield from pre-history to the present day, a temporary exhibition space welcomes shows from partners such as the British Museum and the V&A Museum of Childhood.

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