Description
Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery is a cultural attraction that showcases the history, art, and heritage of Portsmouth. It offers a wide range of exhibits that explore the city’s past, its people, and its creative legacy. The museum is ideal for families, history enthusiasts, and art lovers looking for an engaging indoor experience.
Visitors can explore exhibitions on local history, home life through the centuries, and Portsmouth Football Club, along with a major collection dedicated to Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The museum also features diverse art collections including paintings, sculpture, and design, as well as temporary exhibitions and interactive displays. Additional facilities include a café, garden area, shop, and family-friendly amenities.
Entry to the museum is completely free of charge. Some optional activities, such as trails, may have a small fee.
Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery offers a rich and educational experience for visitors of all ages. It combines history, art, and interactive learning in one place. With its varied exhibits and welcoming environment, it provides a memorable and informative day out.
Features
- Free
- Host birthday parties: No
Features
Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery is home to a huge variety of exhibitions that explore the city’s rich and varied history. No Place Like Pompey explores what’s special about the UK’s only island city, whilst Portsmouth at Play celebrates the myriad ways in which recreational habits have changed over the years. See the tiles below for information about our exhibitions, or head over to our Special Displays section for information on some of our temporary installations.
- A Study in Sherlock: Explore the fascinating contents of one of the world’s largest collections about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes.The collection journeys through the world of Sherlock Holmes and the many actors that have played the character – as well as the numerous films and books inspired by the Sherlock stories. Find out more about how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle came to Portsmouth to set up his doctor’s surgery, and ended up writing some of the earliest detective novels just to help make ends meet.
- Football in the City: Take a trip through Portsmouth Football Club's rich history, via the players, items and trophies that have all played a part. For many people – both inside and outside the city – Portsmouth is inextricably linked with its football club. You can see a roll-call of Portsmouth players with international honours, matchday memorabilia from the biggest games the club has been involved in, and even play a spot of table football to recreate Michael Doyle’s 2016 wonder goal at Accrington Stanley, or Kanu’s side-foot that clinched the FA Cup in 2008.
- Living in Portsmouth: Discover how life at home has changed over the centuries. Follow the story of life in Portsmouth through the generations. See what life was like for the residents of our city and take a glimpse into how they lived. Discover how home life has changed over the centuries through room reconstructions, using objects from across all the Portsmouth Museums’ collections. Begin your journey in our 17th century bedchamber – but try not to wake the residents! All the furniture in this room is from the fine and decorative art collection.
- No Place Like Pompey: What makes Portsmouth unique? Is it one particular place, the city’s geography, its past, or its people? How is it different to live here rather than anywhere else in the country? This gallery explores those things that make our city just that little bit special and mean we have different challenges to many other places. It is sometimes forgotten that most of Portsmouth lies on an island. We look at some of the ways that being an island city affects Portsmouth, from the risk of flooding to traffic congestion to the special benefits for wildlife of the local environment.
- Portsmouth at Play: From the earliest days of the city to the present, the people of Portsmouth have found ways to enjoy their time off. This gallery explores just some of them. Take a look at the rise of Southsea as a resort and how this was promoted and encouraged by the council. This all took place alongside the development of piers and entertainment venues; with two piers offering a mix of music and theatre the resort was very well provided for. Sporting activity in the city has a strong tradition. Find out about Portsmouth’s famous sailor Sir Alec Rose, who circumnavigated the world, and – of course – Portsmouth Football Club.
- Special displays: Don’t miss any of the temporary exhibits on special display at Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery. We host a whole array of new displays – including loans from many internationally renowned museums, Historic Royal Palaces and even famous record labels. Previous displays have included everything from acclaimed artworks on loan from the Royal Academy, to famous characters from children’s TV. Keep checking for all the updates on what you can see at Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery.
1.05 miles
