Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

“An exquisite jewel box of a building; a Venetian casket. One of the most appealing treasures in Britain.”

Dan Cruickshank, architectural heritage consultant, writer and TV presenter. October 2006

Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Closed Mondays and bank holidays.

Admission free.

 The Creation of RAMM
The idea of creating a museum in Exeter dates back to the early 19th century, although it did not come to fruition until the 1860s. The first step can be dated to 1813, when the Devon and Exeter Institution opened, with the aim of ‘promoting the general diffusion of Science, Literature and Art, and …. illustrating the Natural and Civic History of the County of Devon and the City of Exeter’. The institution started to gather together artefacts and specimens fit for this purpose, some of which made it into the RAMM collections, but while the library flourished, the museum element lost impetus.
The educational purpose embraced by the founders of the institution was shared by Prince Albert in his ambitious plans for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The contents of the Crystal Palace were testimony to the achievements of the British Empire, bursting with Victorian pride. The profits from the event allowed for the foundation of public works such as the Albert Hall, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and what was to become the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Proposal
One of Prince Albert’s secretaries for the Great Exhibition was Sir Stafford Northcote of Pynes (later 1st Earl of Iddesleigh), a Devon MP who also served as President of the Exeter School of Art. When the Prince died in 1861, it was Northcote who proposed that a memorial to him should be established in Exeter and launched an appeal for funds. A meeting the following year created the blueprint for the Devon and Exeter Albert Memorial Institution. This was to be a building housing a museum and art gallery, a free public library, a school of art and a mechanical institute.
The public subscription totalled around £15,000. This was no mean effort given the fact that Exeter, unlike the great industrial cities of northern England, could not rely on immensely wealthy and philanthropic benefactors. Richard Somers Gard, Exeter’s MP at the time, presented a site for the proposed building on Queen Street, and additional land was purchased for £2000.

The Architect
An architectural competition to design the new building was won by John Hayward, an important figure in the Gothic Revival school in the south-west. The design was strongly influenced by architects Deane and Woodward, who had designed the University Museum in Oxford, which had been completed in 1860 according to the principles of architecture laid down by John Ruskin. Hayward’s design was also much influenced by the Early English architectural style of the 13th century; it was ornamented by large arched windows with tracery, smaller trefoil-headed windows and a rose window of almost cathedral-like proportions.

Construction
The building work started in 1865 on Queen Street, when Gard laid the foundation stone, and was finished in 1868. Art and science lessons were started at the Albert Memorial Institution in that year, but the official opening was held in August 1869 in the presence of members of the British Association. On entering the building visitors were presented with a view of a grand staircase, with a statue of Prince Albert as its focus. On the ground floor the museum occupied the southern side, with the free library and reading-room to the north, while the school of art and classrooms occupied the upper floors. A lending library was added in July 1870.

Development
Museum collections were already being amassed before the building work had been completed. Part of an existing building on Queen Street was converted to form a depot, and in 1868 a curator was appointed; this was William Stewart Mitchel D’Urban, who served until 1884. Almost as soon as the building was finished, pressure for space became a problem, leading to a number of extensions in 1884 and 1891, and more substantially in 1895, through the Kent Kingdon bequest.
In 1887 it was decided to celebrate Queen Victoria’s jubilee by building another wing to front on to Upper Paul Street. This was opened by the Duke and Duchess of York in 1899 and is still known as York Wing. It was on this occasion that the institution was granted the right to add the word ‘Royal’ to its title.
The educational aspects of the institution continued to evolve, as it became the Royal Albert Memorial University College, then in 1922 the University College of South West England. The library moved out in 1930, and then in 1955 Exeter University was founded and departments moved to the new campus, freeing up space for museum displays.