Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture and Creative Industries it is run by Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. The museum holds designated museum status, granted by the national government to protect outstanding museums. The designated collections include: geology, Eastern art, and Bristol's history, including English delftware. The museum includes sections on natural history as well as local, national and international archaeology. The art gallery contains works from all periods, including many by internationally famous artists, as well a collection of modern paintings of Bristol. In the summer of 2009 the museum hosted an exhibition by Banksy featuring more than 70 works of art, including animatronics and installations and was his largest exhibition. It was developed in secrecy and with no advance publicity, but soon gained worldwide attention. The building is of Edwardian Baroque architecture and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.