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Our History

There has been a museum in Sunderland for two hundred years. At first privately run, the Museum was taken over by the Borough Council in 1846 and was the first publicly funded museum in the country to be established outside London.

The Museum soon outgrew its premises and in 1879 a new, purpose-built Library, Museum & Winter Gardens was opened to the public at the north end of Mowbray Park. The original Winter Gardens was destroyed in the 1940s when a German parachute mine landed nearby, shattering the glass.

The collections continued to grow and once again more space was needed. In the 1960s a new extension was created, on the site where the first Winter Gardens had stood. This made Sunderland Museum one of the largest municipal museums in the country.

More recently, the Library moved out and the Museum benefited from a major Heritage Lottery funded development scheme which was completed in July 2001. This transformed the building, improved all its facilities, made it truly accessible, added a new entrance and a new Winter Gardens.

Within the first three months after opening, a remarkable total of over 300,000 people visited the Museum & Winter Gardens. An added attraction is undoubtedly Mowbray Park, now restored to its Victorian splendor.

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens is owned by Sunderland City Council and managed on its behalf by Tyne & Wear Museums.

For more information: www.visitsunderland.com.