Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery: Travel Guide (4.5★)

Under the clock tower on Chamberlain Square

Look for the clock tower first. The museum shares its Victorian building with the Council House, and the tower above it, known locally as Big Brum, is the landmark to aim for. The entrance faces Chamberlain Square, with Victoria Square and the Town Hall round the corner.

Once inside you reach the Round Room, a domed circular gallery with paintings hung around the curved walls. Jacob Epstein’s bronze Lucifer has long stood here. The building is a sequence of high Victorian rooms, so expect stone stairs, tall ceilings and a lot of walking between wings.

Gold, then the Pre-Raphaelites

Two collections are the main draw, so do them first.

• The Staffordshire Hoard: the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found, dug up in a field near Lichfield in 2009. Most of it is sword fittings and fragments of war gear, many smaller than a thumbnail, with garnet inlay and filigree you’ll need to lean close to see. Birmingham owns it jointly with the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent, so some pieces may be on show there instead.
• The Pre-Raphaelites: one of the largest public collections of this art anywhere. Edward Burne-Jones was born in Birmingham, and the museum holds a lot of his work. Look out for Ford Madox Brown’s The Last of England and a version of Rossetti’s Beata Beatrix.

The museum reopened in stages after a long closure for building repairs, so some galleries may still be shut. The official website lists which rooms are open and any ticketed shows in the Gas Hall. The permanent galleries have traditionally been free to enter.

Avoiding the weekend crowds

This is one of the city’s most-visited attractions, and weekends fill up. Foot traffic peaks from 11am to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays. In practice that’s the whole afternoon, and the Hoard cases are where you’ll queue the longest.

• Weekend visits: arrive at 10am, go straight to the Hoard, then work outwards.
• Mondays: the museum is closed, so plan around that.
• Time needed: two to three hours covers the Hoard, the Round Room and the main painting galleries.
• Closing time: the doors shut at 5pm every open day. Starting after 3pm makes for a rushed visit.

The galleries follow normal British museum etiquette. People keep their voices down and stay behind barriers, and families usually do the Hoard first. A donation box is the usual way to support the museum, and paying by card is normal across the city centre.

Getting there and what’s nearby

Birmingham New Street is the main rail hub, about a 10-minute walk away through the city centre. Moor Street and Snow Hill stations are also within walking distance. The West Midlands Metro tram stops at Town Hall, right beside Victoria Square.

The museum is surrounded by other sights:

• Town Hall: the colonnaded concert venue facing Victoria Square.
• Library of Birmingham: a few minutes west on Centenary Square. Its upper terraces look back over the city.
• Paradise: the redeveloped office and restaurant quarter next to Chamberlain Square, useful for lunch.
• Jewellery Quarter: a short tram or taxi ride north, a good follow-on after the Hoard’s goldwork.