Works of art from Birmingham’s world-class Pre-Raphaelite collection will be back on public display at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from Saturday 25 October 2025.
Four newly refurbished galleries of over 60 paintings, sculptures and stained glass by artists such as Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Frederick Sandys will be open to visitors as part of the museum’s continued phased reopening.
Birmingham has the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art and design in the world. Selected from this outstanding collection, the displays will introduce audiences to the Pre-Raphaelites and their circle, from their early works through to artists working in Birmingham at the turn of the 20th century.
Visitors will be able to see some of the collection’s most popular pieces, including Night with her Train of Stars by Edward Robert Hughes, which will be on public view for the first time in a decade. Hughes’ picture is a watercolour and is only on display for limited periods to protect it from damage by light.
The opening of the Pre-Raphaelite galleries also means that visitors will once again have unrestricted access through to the Staffordshire Hoard during museum opening hours, rather than by guided viewings only.
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is open Monday to Sunday 10.00 am to 5.00 pm. General admission is free.
24 Sept 2025
New HS2 exhibition opens at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Credit: HS2.
HS2 has teamed up with Thinktank, Birmingham’s science museum, to launch a brand-new exhibition celebrating the city’s past, present and future connection to the railways.
The family-friendly showcase forms part of the nationwide ‘Railway 200’ celebrations, which mark 200 years since the birth of the modern railways. HS2’s year-long exhibition officially opens on Saturday, 27th September – the date of the world’s first passenger train journey along the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Visitors will be transported back in time as they learn about construction of the Kilsby Tunnel – almost 200 years ago – on the route of the original London to Birmingham railway. The Kilsby Tunnel took nearly five years to complete by hand, with workers using pickaxes and dynamite.
Fast forward to today, the exhibition tells the story of how HS2’s engineers safely completed the first section of the 3.5-mile Bromford Tunnel – linking North Warwickshire and Birmingham – in just 22 months.
An immersive audio-visual experience will illustrate HS2’s advances in civil engineering and technology. It plays the real sounds of a 1,600-tonne tunnel boring machine (TBM) hard at work, slicing through the earth, while a short film shows how the giant machine was assembled before being powered into action. Two cutter discs, taken from one of HS2’s giant TBMs, will also be on display.
Celebrate 200 years of the modern railway at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum.
Join Santa for breakfast at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
Birmingham Museums has launched its new programme for autumn and winter 2025 on the theme of celebration.
Visitors aged 16 and over can enjoy after dark LED candlelit tours of Grade I listed Aston Hall, along with stories of the ghosts that are reputed to live there, from Thursday 30 October to Saturday 1 November.
For family friendly fun, join the storyteller at Blakesley Hall between Wednesday 29 October and Friday 31 October for an atmospheric tour to find out all about Halloween traditions and stories or take part in the pumpkin takeover at Sarehole Mill on Wednesday 25 October with Halloween-themed craft activities and pumpkins floating on the Mill Pond.
For the festive season, Aston Hall will once again be lit up by LED candlelight for its Christmas by Candlelight tours. From Friday 12 December to Sunday 14 December, visitors can step back in time to find out how Christmas was celebrated in the past and learn about the origins of traditions such as the yule log and the Christmas tree.
Meanwhile at Blakesley Hall, every Thursday between 4 December and 18 December, costumed guided tours explore Tudor Christmas traditions and stories, ending with traditional wassailing in the orchard in the Blakesley garden.
Young visitors can experience a morning of festive magic in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Tearoom with breakfast with Santa, or storytime with Santa at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum from Saturday 29 November to Tuesday 23 December.
Also, every Sunday throughout December, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery will be coming alive with festive performances, from joyful choirs to lively Morris Dancers. Each week will bring a new lineup of local performers filling the galleries with the sounds and spirit of the season.
The ‘celebration’ season runs until Sunday 4 January 2026. A complete list of what’s on throughout the programme is available on the Birmingham Museums website.
