A record number of people visited the British Museum in London last year to see China’s Terracotta Army exhibition. More than 850,000 people viewed the exhibition, the highest attendance figures since the Tutankhamun display in 1972. The overall visitor figures for 2007-8 was 6 million.
A new botanical art museum is to open at Kew Gardens. It will display paintings and sketches of fruit, flowers and leaves. It will be named The Shirley Sherwood Gallery and will exhibit previous works of art from the collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Dr. Shirley Sherwood. It will be a year round attraction.
Scotland’s newest museum has opened inside a newly built branch of Morrisons supermarket. Johnstone Heritage Society set up the exhibition using a £29,100 grant from the Lottery Fund. The museum examines the town’s history and will be run by 5 volunteers. The museum focuses on textile and engineering industries with craftmaking workshops, guided tours, talks and lectures also available.
The Haig Colliery Mining Museum in Whitehaven has just received a £1.9 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which will allow the site to be restored and provide access to the collections. It will create a meaningful facility for the local community which reflects the historic importance of coal mining in Whitehaven (source BBC).
The National Maritime Museum have recently announced that they have received a £20 million donation to help develop a new wing at Greenwich.