7 January 2012

A visit to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

The approach to the Museum with the Wills Memorial tower of Bristol University dominating the view.

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

A closer look at the Wills Memorial Tower. The Wills Memorial Building was commissioned in 1912 by George Alfred Wills and Henry Herbert Wills, the magnates of the Bristol tobacco company W. D. & H. O. Wills, in honour of their father, Henry Overton Wills III, benefactor and first Chancellor of the University who donated £100,000 to the University. The building was opened in 1925.

Inside the museum looking down from the upper floor. It was nice to see the museum and art galleries being visited by so many people, young and old.

Suspended above the entrance gallery is this 1963 built replica Bristol Box kite aircraft. The original plane was manufactured by the Bristol Colonial Aeroplane company and entered service with the Royal Flying Corps in 1911.

The museum replica is one of three created for the film “Those magnificent men in their flying machines.”