A very merry Christmas from the Brunel Museum!
With a special message from renowned (and stylish) civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel himself...
Wow, what an afternoon we've had - we are currently at 70% of our initial funding goal in just two hours! Amazingly, just £750 of public donations would now be enough to get us past our target thanks to the Big Give's incredible match funding system.
If you haven't seen it yet, here's our video for @biggive.org's #ChristmasChallenge - and on this #GivingTuesday, remember all your donations will be doubled thanks to the generosity of our early pledgers and The Monday Charitable Trust.
Get involved: https://vist.ly/3mny6qg
That’s all for now, we hope you enjoyed the films! A massive thank you to all the young people from @time_and_talents_ Holiday Club who made such fantastic work. Thanks also to The National Lottery Heritage Fund who made the @kidsinmuseums #takeoverday possible as part of the Brunel Museum Reinvented Project and to @Canadawatermasterplan who support Time and Talents Holiday Club.
The third and final film we’ll be sharing for Kids in Museum’s Takeover Day is ‘Tunnel Trespassers’. A rich man goes searching for something precious in the dark but gets more than he bargained for! made by @time_and_talents_ Holiday Club for @kidsinmuseums #takeoverday. Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and @Canadawatermasterplan
We’re delighted to share the second of our films made by @time_and_talents_ Holiday Club for our @kidsinmuseums #takeoverday: ‘The Ghost Tunneller’, a spooky story of construction, friendship, and achievement. Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and @Canadawatermasterplan
First up for our Kids in Museums #takeoverday films is ‘A Broken Tunnel Mystery’, an enigma of structural damage, lies and lost boots.
Made by @time_and_talents_ Holiday Club
Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and @Canadawatermasterplan
Today's #OnlineArtExchange theme is #SpookyArt, and we wanted to show off these shifting transparencies, where one image becomes another as soon as they are lit up.
These were a popular form of entertainment, much like the paper peepshows next to them in the gallery.
We still have some limited availability for private tours of the Museum with one of our expert volunteer guides this autumn and winter!
Learn more about the Brunel family, the Thames Tunnel, and the dedicated workers who constructed the world's first underwater tunnel, now the oldest piece of London's transport infrastructure!
https://vist.ly/3mizakc
It's #RememberACharityWeek - an opportunity for everyone to take a moment to consider leaving a gift to charity in their Will, after looking after family and friends.
https://vist.ly/3mfxmbe
We were really excited to welcome metals conservator Joanna Whalley to the Museum last week, to carry out conservation on a pair of buckles once owned by Marc Brunel!
Joanna's treatment was very generously funded by the Daphne Bullard Grant from @costume_society.
Join our expert volunteer guides for an in-depth tour of the Brunel Museum’s Engine House exhibition and Grade II* listed underground Tunnel Shaft during our guided tour weekends on:
🎩 August 17-18
🎩 August 31-September 1
🎩 September 14-15
Or schedule a private tour outside normal opening hours at thebrunelmuseum.com!
We're reinventing the Brunel Museum for 2025!
This upcoming September, The Brunel Museum will close to begin work on our Brunel Museum Reinvented project, thanks to a grant of £1.85mn from the National Lottery Heritage Fund
This project will make vital improvements to our international heritage site associated with Marc Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The Brunel family were at the heart of Victorian innovation. The Brunel Museum sits on the site of Marc Brunel’s ground-breaking Thames Tunnel.
Running from Rotherhithe to Wapping, it was the first ever tunnel dug underneath a river, pioneering innovation that is still used today.
The Museum will be closed from late September 2024 with plans to reopen in summer 2025 – in time for the 200th anniversary of in time to celebrate 200 years since work began on the site.
The reinvented project will conserve the two historic buildings, the Grade II* listed Tunnel Shaft, and the Engine House.
A new Visitor Welcome Pavilion will transform visitor experience, with accessible facilities, and shop, enabling more people to visit and learn about this incredible story of adaptability, ingenuity and perseverance.
Our collection of Thames Tunnel watercolours, including those hand drawn by Marc Brunel himself, will be on display for the first time.
Before we close for this transformational project, we’ll be celebrating with a series of events over the summer. For families, our Tunnellers Club has already started as well as our Wild Things gardening club – Plus we’re celebrating National Play Day on 7 August.
For those who want to delve a bit deeper, we have four Guided Tour weekends where visitors can get an expert tour of the Museum site with our passionate and expert volunteer guides. Plus we’re open every Friday, Sunday and Monday outside of those times.
Finally, everyone’s invited to our Closing Party on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September
We are excited to get started on our reinv
