The Victoria Art Gallery

The Victoria Art Gallery is a public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England. It was opened in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is a Grade II* listed building and houses over 1500 objects of art including a collection of oil paintings from British artists dating from 1700 onwards. The ground floor was at one time a public library. The building was designed in 1897 by John McKean Brydon, and has been designated as a Grade II* listed building. It originally was partly used as a public library but was converted in 1990 to house and display only art works. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar rendered in its upper half and occupies a corner site. It is a two storey building with an attic tower with a lead-covered dome. There are nine bays on Bridge Street and one on Grand Parade and each floor consists mainly of one large rectangular room. A flight of stone steps rises to the circular entrance hall which leads to the former library. The main stair is approached through an arch and is a seventeenth century revival stair made of mahogany with bulbous balusters. The ceiling is barrel-vaulted. The upper landing has Ionic marble columns and a coffered dome, embossed with signs of the Zodiac in relief. The Upper Gallery is lit by a range of skylights and has a coved ceiling, a copy in plaster of the Parthenon frieze, and a panelled dado with triglyphs. #awesomepic#historicculture#museumquest#bestislandtraveltowns#culturalattractions