Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum on 21 March 2009

The Wilson, formerly known as Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, was opened in 1899. It offers free admission, and has a programme of special exhibitions. It was renamed The Wilson in honour of polar explorer Edward Wilson, a son of Cheltenham, in 2013 after the building was extended. The gallery and museum is managed by

The Cheltenham Trust The Cheltenham Trust is a registered charity that manages several cultural and leisure venues in the spa town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. It manages Cheltenham Town Hall, The Wilson (Cheltenham) the town's Art Gallery and Museum, Pit ...

. The museum is housed in part of a Regency building on Clarence Street (Cheltenham Library currently occupies much of the original building), designed as the Cheltenham Public Library by architect William Hill Knight, who also designed the

Cheltenham Synagogue The Cheltenham Synagogue is a synagogue in Cheltenham noted for its Regency architecture. It is an independent congregation located in the town centre on Synagogue Lane, off St James's Square. Nikolaus Pevsner judges that the Cheltenham Synagogue ...

and Montpellier Walk. In 2007 a national

architectural design competition An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel ...

was launched by

RIBA Competitions RIBA Competitions is the Royal Institute of British Architects' unit dedicated to organising architectural and other design-related competitions. Architectural design competitions are used by an organisation that plans to build a new building or re ...

to extend the building, providing more space for the renowned Arts and Crafts collection. Through this proces
Berman Guedes Stretton
were selected by Cheltenham Borough Council and the extension was completed in 2012. Baron de Ferrieres, a former Mayor and Liberal MP for

, gave 43 important paintings, mostly from Belgium and the Netherlands, to the town. He also donated £1,000 towards the building of a gallery in which to display them. The Museum was opened in 1907 in the adjacent former Schools of Art and Science. A major extension to the building by

Hugh Casson Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect. He was also active as an interior designer, as an artist, and as a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for t ...

was opened by the

Princess Royal Princess Royal is a substantive title, style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a United Kingdom, British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of th ...

in September 1989, where the main entrance to the gallery is now situated. The museum is particularly noted for its

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

collection of furniture, textiles, ceramics, carvings, silver and jewellery which is recognised as an outstanding collection of international importance for which the Art Gallery & Museum has received Designated status. Cheltenham's history is well represented, and in addition there are paintings spanning four centuries, oriental collections of pottery and costume, and archaeological treasures from the neighbouring

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

. The Edward Wilson gallery shows the life of the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

explorer who perished with Scott on his expedition to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

in 1912.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, The Culture in Cheltenham Museums in Gloucestershire Art museums established in 1899 Art museums and galleries in Gloucestershire History museums in Gloucestershire Decorative arts museums in England Local museums in Gloucestershire 1899 establishments in England