Bristol Tourist Attractions - M Shed
Posted on: 19 Mar 2014M Shed is not simply a museum. It is an experience, an amazing day out with opportunities to explore and discover Bristol’s fascinating history and place in the world. And it’s not by chance that M Shed has just been awarded the prestigious Destination Bristol tourism & Hospitality Award: Large Visitor Attraction of the Year. This is great news since it represents the right recognition for the huge amount of hard work that goes on behind the scenes at M Shed.
Three galleries, one located on the ground floor and the others on the first floor, plus a Gallery hosting temporary exhibitions compose M Shed.
The first Gallery you meet is Bristol Places that explores the city from a physical, geographical perspective. That is, it analyses how people have transformed and shaped Bristol over time, what different areas look like, and what their characteristics are. You can see photos and read stories of every neighbourhood, each with its own identity. Not only. The Gallery discovers the history of commerce in the city, hosts a variety of different vehicles people used to travel around the city, including a fantastic green bus on which you can hop in and see from the inside.
Going up to the first floor, there is the Gallery dedicated to what, sorry for the roundabout, makes Bristol Bristol and what Bristol makes. Bristol people have always been creative and innovative. Many ideas for products, processes, artistic movements and techniques have their grassroots here. The more interesting section for a young person here is probably that about Street Art and its history and music and performance. You can discover how street art originated and who are Banksy’s predecessors. Whilst, in regards to music, we learn that Bristol became famous for its “sound” in the 1990s. Bristol sound is a musical hybrid that reflected the influences on the city’s multicultural population. Indeed a wide range of musical styles live in Bristol and Massive Attack surely represent the best synthesis of this musical meltin’ pot. Walking around the Gallery there is an interesting part that explores Bristol’s involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade and another that finds out how Bristol people have fought for their rights over time. Here you see written on the walls different questions like, “Have you ever taken direct action for a political cause?” or “How equally are men and women treated today?”. And under each question you can read different stories of people who took action in this sense. It is significant because these big questions seem to shake your moral conscience.
The last Gallery is like a long, huge interview to Bristol people about a wide variety of topics and situations. Visitors here learn how Bristol families have lived, learnt, worked and socialised. Finally, before enjoying the wonderful panorama from the gallery’s window on the city, there is a video with five films that explore people’s experiences of being part of a crowd in Bristol on memorial occasions. One of the most fascinating is that titled “Waiting for Banksy”, shot in 2009 on the occasion of Banksy exhibition at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery where you can see an interminable queue under the rain composed by tourists and locals, children and adults. Really impressive!
M Shed is a place that has to be seen to be believed where there are so many things that probably you will need to visit it twice to appreciate the outstanding collections it houses. And, last but by no means least, it’s a place that appeal to people of all ages and interests. M Shed also runs excellent programmes of temporary exhibition, events and activities.
Ultimately, this is not a classical museum, rather a place to enjoy and value, to be surprised and learn.
M Shed is located on Princes Wharf, Wapping Road, Bristol, BS1 4RN.
Entry is free and the opening hours are:
Tue-Fri: 10am-5pm [Closed Mondays, except Bank Holidays]
Weekends and Bank Holidays: 10am-6pm
by Evita Sabatiello for 365Bristol