The Opening of the Holburne Museum

Last weekend I was invited to the opening night of the newly revamped Holburne Museum in Bath. Amongst all the high flying Bathonians I felt a little out of place, but with a glass of vino in hand and a few familiar faces I began to feel at ease.

Dress code: it seems there was no dress code. Some arrived in cocktail dresses and heels, others in jeans and tops and some went for the casual smart look (myself included).

It seemed there was a mixture of people of the Bath elite - this particularly pleased me as the Holburne is not just for the 'upper class' but for all people of Bath. This in some respects is Bath's heritage.


The particularly entertaining part of the night was when Xa Sturgis walked out onto the balcony with a fan faire - I expected Julius Caesar to appear "People of Bath.." He was then followed by Peter Blake.
Who had been invited to exhibit for the re-opening in the new exhibition space.

Peter Blake's collection did not excite me anywhere near as much as his collection at the Museum of Everything in London earlier this year. This could have been due to the amount of people present, but also because there seemed to be a choice of rather less exciting collections present. However, Tom Thumb's boots caught my attention once again - they are so small!

The new structure which has taken three years to build and even longer to plan, seems to stand in all its glory when viewed from the lovely Sydney gardens. Made of glass and green ceramic it is impressive that Eric Parry the well known architect managed to convince the Bathonians that this was a good move.
However,having been horrified at first (much like most others in Bath) I am now convinced that this is and will be one of the most innovative artistic architectural monuments in Bath for years to come. I love the reflections and the way the building almost merges with the gardens. Bringing all three aspects together that Bath is most famous for - architecture art and its gardens. Even if it did all cost a mere £15million pounds!!


I will be visiting the Museum again soon (after my assessments I imagine) and review the collection in more detail - the hanging and new display is particularly interesting, especially for a museum setting.