Royal Albert Museum and Gallery

The Royal Albert Museum and Gallery collections include, Archeology, Coins and Medals, Costume and Textiles, Decorative and Applied Art, Fine Art, Natural Sciences, World Cultures, 1.5 million objects in total. Present collecting focuses largely on objects of local interest.

Initially proposed by Sir Stafford Northcote as a practical memorial to Prince Albert, an appeal fund was launched in 1861 and the first phases of the building were completed by 1868. The Devon and Exeter Albert Memorial, as it was originally known, provided an integrated museum, art gallery, library, reading room, school of art and school of science in the manner long advocated by Prince Albert.

In 1899 York Wing was opened by the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, and at the same time the title of Royal Albert Memorial was granted.

The building has changed little since then although the city library moved out of the Museum in 1930, the school of science ultimately developed into the University of Exeter and the school of art is now the University of Plymouth’s Faculty of Art & Education. The Museum then gradually expanded to fill the whole building.

Extracts of this article taken from wikipedia.