The Bowes Museum

For over 125 years The Bowes Museum in Bernard Castle, Co. Durham has amassed collections which included Paintings, Ceramics and Sculpture, Fashion & Textiles, Silver and Metals, and Furniture.

Some of the exhibits are over 500 years old and come for all around the world.

The museum boasts the largest collection in the UK outside London of Spanish Paintings and has been awarded Designated Status by the UK Government due to the significance of the building, a French style chateau and the object which it holds.

Galleries at the Museum include:
The Streatlam Galleries – which house archaeology, curiosities, and toys.
Fashion & Textile Gallery – with displays of fashion and textiles dating from as early as 1550.
Silver & Metals Gallery – which includes amongst its exhibits the musical automaton Silver Swan (this automaton is pictured on Street View in October 2015)
Picture Galleries - with works from the Renaissance through to the late nineteenth century.

The Bowes Museum is named for John Bowes, a collector, who in 1872 bought the Silver Swan from James Cox, a jewellery, who had a mechanical museum where the Silver Swan was first displayed.

Source: ‘Atlas Obscura: The Second Edition’ edited by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras & Ella Morton (ISBN:978-1-5235-0648-4)