Inside the Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent showing a woman sitting looking at the exhibition cases
Josiah Wedgwood wrote as early as 1774 that he wished he had preserved samples of all the company's works, and began to do so. The first formal museum was opened in May 1906, with a curator named Isaac Cooke, at the main (Etruria) works. The museum was stored for the duration of World War II, and relaunched in a gallery at the new Barlaston factory in 1952. A new purpose-built Visitor Centre and Museum was built in 1975, and remodelled in 1985, with pieces displayed near items from the old factory works, in cabinets of similar period. A video theatre was added, and a new gift shop, as well as an expanded demonstration area where visitors could watch pottery being made. A further renovation, costing million pounds, was carried out in 2000, including access to the main factory itself, following which the Visitor Centre complex won multiple awards. Adjacent to the museum and visitor centre are a restaurant and tea room, serving on Wedgwood ware. The museum, managed by a dedicated trust, closed in 2000 and in 2008 reopened in a new multi-million pound building. The new "state of the art" museum was opened on the 24th of October 2008. In June 2009, Wedgwood Museum won a UK Art Fund Prize for Museums and Art Galleries, for its displays of Wedgewood pottery, skills, designs and artefacts.
Size: 5050px × 3366px
Location: Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent
Photo credit: © John Keates / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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