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In summer of 2015, our family together with other friends visited The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent to get a glimpse of the city's cultural past. The museum was located in Hanley, one of the six towns of the federated city and admission is free. The museum houses Designated Collections - displaying fine and decorative arts, costume, local history, archaeology and natural history as well as the world's greatest collection of Staffordshire ceramics. It is also home to the Staffordshire Hoard.
As we approached the museum building we were greeted by the Light Source statue, which was created by the Scottish artist David Annand to celebrate 100 years of Stoke-on-Trent's federation as a city in 1910. The building itself is huge compared to our museum in Peterborough. Walking past the Light Source, we were then greeted by another work of art, the Industries of the Potteries, a long relief made up of 6,000+ bricks showing images of the history and industries of the city.
Inside, the museum is divided into several galleries and we just followed whatever path we just happened to be. After a quick browse at the museum lobby we made our way into the Staffordshire Hoard, an important feature of the museum's Anglo Saxon Kingdom of Mercia gallery. Discovered in 2009 by a metal detectorist and dates back to the 7th century, this is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found. Consisting of over 3,500 items, the hoard amounted to a total of 5.1 kg (11 lb) of gold, 1.4 kg (3 lb) of silver and some 3,500 pieces of garnet cloisonné jewellery.
Then we made our way to the Natural Science gallery. There we saw depictions of the geology and wildlife found in the different habitats in and around the Potteries area - moorland, forests and wetlands. On the other hand, the Archaeology gallery showcases Staffordshire’s rich and diverse archaeological heritage from prehistoric technologies to daily life in a Roman household, medieval monasticism to the early potters of Burslem.
The children spent more time at the Spitfire gallery, featuring the Mark XVI Spitfire that was built in 1945. A triumph of aircraft design, it is best remembered for its role in the Battle of Britain. This gallery is dedicated to Reginald Mitchell, locally-born designer of the legendary aircraft. Fast forward to 2018, the plane is not in the museum as it is being restored and will return in 2019. A Spitfire sculpture created by KMF engineering apprentices will fill the space for now.
Going back in time, we checked out the Local History gallery that represents the history of the people of Stoke-on-Trent. It is arranged as a series of room settings depicting domestic and working life it includes a schoolroom, a pub and a chip shop. It was a fascinating experience. Then on to the amazing Ceramic gallery next, where we admired the finest collection of Staffordshire ceramics anywhere in the world, reflecting Stoke’s heritage as the centre of the English ceramics industry.
We ended up our hour-and-a-half tour in the Fine Art gallery, which showcased the donated collection of Impressionist paintings by Dr John Russell. I don't know about the rest but I skipped the Design gallery as I was falling behind my family and friends and had to catch up to them. As I went to meet our group, the kids were already complaining as they were hungry and demanding for their burgers and fries!
All photos were taken with an Olympus PEN E-PL5 micro four thirds camera attached with the pancake Panasonic Lumix G II 20mm f1.7 lens.
More information
Potteries Museum & Art Gallery - http://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag/
Industries of the Potteries - http://www.thepotteries.org/art/h9.htm
Light Source statue - http://www.thepotteries.org/photo_wk/138.htm
Staffordshire Hoard - https://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/
Staffordshire Hoard Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffordshire_Hoard
