Derby Museum & Art Gallery — Attraction in England

A really well done museum, that takes great efforts to include interesting stories and facts in their informational plaques. I thought organizing items by type across culture and time periods was a really interesting way of displaying their diverse collection. I also appreciated how unflinching the museum was regarding the role colonialism had in it being able to aquire some of its cultural pieces. They were very forthcoming about where each piece came from without much sugar coating.

I was originally ambivalent about the "art" part of this museum, but I ended up loving it. I appreciated how it focused on taking the audience through the life of Joseph Wright.

Overall, I was very impressed at the range of topics this museum covers. I would think that a museum that tries to cover so much couldn't possibly do everything justice, but this one manages to do a really good job with everything. To top it off, the staff members I interacted with were very friendly.

If there was one disappointment, it was that I accidentally skipped a whole half of a room (in the world cultures section) because I must have missed an intersection when following the one-way path they put in place for covid. Despite this, I appreciated the measures they took for covid and really had no issues wearing a mask, since it is an indoor venue, even if there aren't too many people in any one room.

I only budgeted 1-2 hours for this, but really wish I'd been able to spend...

So, what of the city Museum and Art Gallery? It's pretty good for three prime reasons. Forget the natural history collection; forget the World Culture exhibits; forget the role of the Derbyshire regiments in the fights of empire around the world. No, instead, my attention was concentrated on three other specific rooms.

First up, ceramics: plenty of display cases full of beautiful Royal Crown Derby pottery, going all the way back to the eighteenth century.

Second: archaeology. Marvel at the Hanson Log Boat, a Bronze Age craft over 3500 years old. It's an amazing ten metres long, was found in a gravel quarry at Shardlow (just south of Derby) and was transporting pieces of stone. Then there's a good selection of Roman lead items, mined up in the Peak District. That was followed by St Alkmund's astounding sarcophagus, found beneath St Alkmund's Church. He died around 800AD. The next pic shows part of the sculptured St Alkmund's Cross of around fifty years later.

Third: art. As Joshua Reynolds is to Plymouth, Joseph Wright is to Derby. And Derby Museum & Art Gallery (unlike Plymouth) has a whole gallery devoted to this amazing artist. There was much on which to feast the eyes, from his portraits of early industrialists like Richard Arkwright, through his wanderings in Italy, and on to his amazing renditions of night-time scientific experiments....

Last time I went here I was at school.. many years ago, this place has changed drastically and is far better for it.

Firstly it's free, so there's really no reason not to go, even if you don't like it you've not lost anything.

The museum staff are very helpful, friendly and approachable, they're happy to help and advise not only on the museum but other interesting places to visit in Derby.

The displays are modern and interesting with some items in the open and others with signs encouraging interaction.

The room displaying the history of Derby is in all honesty amazing, who would of thought that all those objects were found in the city....makes you wonder what else is buried under our feet.

There's also objects from across the globe including the Americas, Egypt, South Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Asia and the Far East.

There's also a world class collection of paintings by Derby's Joseph Wright.

Absolutely superb, definitely...