FACTSHEET
Birmingham Museums Trust’s (BMT) vision is to reflect Birmingham to the world and the world to Birmingham using the city’s collection and museums to share what is unique about the culture and heritage of Birmingham in a global context.
Education is part of our charitable object and lies at the heart of our activity. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery was set up in 1885 with the explicit aim of teaching the artisans of Birmingham to improve its manufactures by showing them the best in art and design. The focus may have changed, but using real objects for learning is still at the heart of what we do.
The City of Birmingham’s museum holdings represent one of the three great historic regional collections of the United Kingdom. The collection consists of over 800,000 objects, from the earliest fossils to Watt’s engines and 21st century conceptual art. Most of the collection is Designated as being of national significance. Six of our nine venues are Listed buildings, and one is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. BMT are the stewards of this extraordinary range of public assets.
BMT was set up as an independent charity to manage the city’s museum collection and venues in 2012. This is what we have achieved so far: