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Peace Museum reopens in Saltaire
Project has been supported by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund
The Peace Museum has reopened at its new home in Salts Mill in Saltaire after being closed for four years.
The museum, which used to be based in nearby Bradford, explores the history of peace, peacemakers, social reform and peace movements. Its 16,000-strong collection features banners, personal objects, campaign materials and artworks donated by people and organisations all over the world.
The new premises include a new permanent exhibition, temporary exhibition gallery, an education space, research facilities and a shop.
For its first temporary exhibition, the museum has been working with artist Lakhbir Sangha to create a series of artworks inspired by the question: "What does peace mean to you?" Visitors can respond to this question and add their answers to an interactive artwork. This new artwork will be a three-dimensional resin outline of Bradford filled with hundreds of scrolls of material which can be removed and read. Each scroll will display one response to the question.
The move to a new site was supported by a grant of £245,651 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
As well as the Heritage Fund, other supporters include Bradford 2025, Bradford City Council, Key Fund, Art Fund, Association of Independent Museums, Pilgrim Trust, Museum Development North and Arts Council England.
Saltaire, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is named after Sir Titus Salt, who built a textile mill and village on the river Aire in the 19th century.
A visit to the Peace Museum is among the tours being offered at this year’s Museums Association Conference, which is taking place in Leeds on 12-14 November.