Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) on Queen Street, Exeter, Devon, England is the largest museum in the city.
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The site for the museum was donated by Richard Sommers Gard, MP for Exeter from 1857 to 1864, and a competition for its design attracted 24 entries, including one from John Hayward, whose gothic design was the winner.[1] His original plan called for a tall central tower like that at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, but that feature was rejected and was replaced by a gable and rose window.[2] Construction started in 1865 with the laying of the foundation stone, but lack of funds and a strike meant that the building was not finished until 1870.[1] The Devon and Exeter Albert Memorial, as it was originally known, provided an integrated museum, art gallery, library, reading room, school of art and school of science in the manner long advocated by Prince Albert.
Its contents soon outgrew the building, necessitating the construction of extensions in 1894 (by Medley Fulford) and in 1898 (by Tait and Harvey).[1] This second extension, the York Wing, was opened by the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, and at the same time the title of Royal Albert Memorial was granted.
The building has changed little since then although the city library moved out of the Museum in 1930, the school of science ultimately developed into the University of Exeter and the school of art is now the University of Plymouth's Faculty of Art & Education. The Museum then gradually expanded to fill the whole building.
RAMM is now a hub museum under the government's Renaissance Programme.[3]
Archaeology, Coins and Medals, Costume and Textiles, Decorative and Applied Art, Fine Art, Natural Sciences, World Cultures, 1.5 million objects in total. Present collecting focuses largely on objects of local interest.
The Museum's fine art collection comprises over 7,000 objects in an eclectic mix of paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture, representing important British artists and celebrating the museum's location in the South West.
The donors who contributed to the collection include Kent Kingdon (an upholsterer and interior designer), Sir Harry Veitch (owner of the horticultural firm Veitch and Sons) and John Lane (founder of the publishing firm The Bodley Head). [1]
At the end of every July, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum holds a plant-orientated lecture in memory of Sir Harry Veitch. [2]
The museum reopened on 15 December 2011 after a four year redevelopment costing £24 million that included repair to the fabric of the building, refurbishment, and the construction of an extension.[4] The Heritage Lottery Fund contributed nearly £10 million of the cost.[5] It includes a purpose-built off-site collections store, a complete redisplay of the collections, an extension and a new entrance from the gardens at the rear.[6]
The museum is open 10am to 5pm every day except Mondays and bank holidays. Entry is free.
The Museum and Art Gallery is owned and partly funded by Exeter City Council. Other funding is from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Government's "Renaissance" programme of investment in regional museums.[5]