20th Century British art to be displayed in Swindon

Museum & Art Swindon is re-opening

Author: Lauren WattPublished 7th Jul 2024

Modern and Contemporary 20th Century British art will be on display in Swindon from Tuesday. (9/7)

Museum & Art Swindon closed during lockdown and has now moved from Apsley House in Bath Road to the Civic Offices in Euclid Street.

Visitors will be able to see the museum’s famous Lowry paintings, as well as a perfume bottle created by Sir Grayson Perry.

More recent examples of Swindon's history will include empty vaccine vials from the COVID-19 Vaccination Centre at STEAM – where for a brief period in 2020, Swindon led the world in the number of people vaccinated against COVID-19.

The museum will be free for all visitors to enjoy and find out more about the history of the town.

Councillor Marina Strinkovsky, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Placemaking, said: “I’m thrilled that we’re finally able to open this amazing museum and provide a new home for Swindon’s impressive collection of art and artefacts.

“People might be wondering ‘where’s the gharial?’, well don’t worry, that’s the next project for the museum staff. There’s already a project underway to bring the gharial into its new home at Museum & Art Swindon – hopefully arriving by the end of the year!

“This is just the start of our plans to improve Swindon’s art and culture offering and I’m excited that our Arts and Cultural Strategy will be available for public viewing later this month.

“We’re committed to building a better Swindon and having incredible museums such as this one, not to mention STEAM and Lydiard House, is a big part of that.”

As part of the opening week there will be Family Art Lab sessions on Saturday the 13th July and History Detectives sessions on Sunday 14th July.

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