Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery stands in central Exeter, Devon. It occupies a Gothic Revival building of local New Red Sandstone, begun in 1868 and extended several times since. The museum houses more than a million objects across zoology, anthropology, fine art, archaeology and geology. A £24 million redevelopment finished in 2011 restored the fabric and added a new entrance from the rear gardens. The building itself started as a competition winner by John Hayward, whose original tower plan was later replaced by a gable and rose window. The Duke and Duchess of York opened the York Wing in 1898 and the museum gained its ‘Royal’ title at that point. The collections are recognised nationally and internationally. The world cultures section is designated of national significance by the UK government. The zoology holdings include Percy Sladen’s echinoderm collection, judged the most important outside national collections. RAMM’s art gallery holds over 7,000 works by British artists such as Gainsborough, Reynolds, Hepworth and Heron. Costume and textiles are kept in controlled storage because of their fragility and shown only by rotation. Donors like Kent Kingdon, Sir Harry Veitch and John Lane helped build these holdings over many decades. Visitors enter through the restored rear gardens and find spacious galleries arranged by theme. The natural history displays show global specimens alongside local Devon finds. Antiquities range from Mediterranean classical pieces to British archaeology. The art rooms present British paintings and sculpture from the 18th century to the present. Temporary exhibitions draw on the full range of collections and touring shows. The building’s stonework, windows and public spaces remain as they were after the 2011 refurbishment, offering a calm setting for discovery.