Events

What follows is a chronological list of what is currently planned by way of visits to places of interest,  gallery talks, Behind the Scenes visits in the city, Saturday afternoon talks and special events where the Friends will have a presence.

Following that will be any online events that the museum service is organizing.

We hope you will find things to interest you.

Please note: if you book online, the payment receipt from PayPal does not mean that you have secured a place.  The organizer receives a weekly update of such payments and will email you to advise when you have a firm booking.

Also, Behind the Scenes visits and gallery tours are usually restricted to groups of around 15.  If such an event attracts a larger number of applications, the organizer will try to arrange a second (or more) tour(s), which could be at a later time on the advertised day or on a later date.  If this occurs, the organizer will contact you to make the appropriate arrangements.

Although originally a Norman castle, Cardiff Castle is renowned for its neo-gothic Victorian apartments designed by William Burges.  These will be suitably decorated for Christmas on our visit.

Please use the following form for online booking:

For postal bookings, please use the form enclosed with the September newsletter.

Organizer:  Richard Avery; membership@friendsofbmga.org.uk; 0117 329 6656

Professor Beth Williamson explores the artistic culture of Siena in the fourteenth century ahead of a major new art exhibition.
The fourteenth century is often seen as the ‘Golden Age’ of Sienese art. During this time, Siena was a crucible for great invention and home to new approaches to painting and other artistic media.

This illustrated lecture explores the artistic culture of Siena and examines some of the inventions created there.  It also previews the major, once-in-a-generation exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300??1350.  With over a hundred exhibits made by artisans working in Siena, Naples, Avignon and beyond, this exciting exhibition brings together some of Europe’s earliest, most exquisite and most significant artworks.  It opens at the National Gallery, London on 8 March 2025 and will end on 22 June.

Speaker: Beth Williamson is Professor of Medieval Culture and Chair in the History of Art at the University of Bristol.  She specializes in medieval art and religion and acted as a consultant on the exhibition.

The lecture is free to attend but you will be encouraged to make a donation.  To register for a place / link to the livestream via the Museum’s website, click here.

The Museum Winter Lecture series is sponsored by The Friends

Professor Corinne Fowler opens up the colonial dimensions of local history in South West England.
Empire transformed English rural lives in so many ways that colonial history presents a challenge to the idea that phenomenon like enclosure, agricultural labour and land struggles were an entirely domestic matter.
This talk opens up the colonial dimensions of local history in South West England, concentrating on two country walks through the Cotswolds and Dorset.  The first walk is an Indian walk through Gloucestershire and the second explores the history of the Dorsetshire labourers, known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and their experiences of British penal colonies in modern day Tasmania and Australia.

The talk will show that colonial activities overseas, and incoming profits, changed the lives of the rural poor.  These histories, usually considered separately, continue to shape lives across Britain today.

Speaker: Corinne Fowler is Professor of Colonialism and Heritage in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester.  In 2020 she co-authored an audit of peer-reviewed research about National Trust properties’ connections to empire, which galvanized the heritage sector to address its colonial stories and became a major media story.  The report won the Museums and Heritage Special Recognition Award, 2022 and an Eastern Eye Award 2023.

The lecture is free, but you will be encouraged to make a donation.  It is available as an in-person talk at M Shed or an online livestream.  To register for a place / livestream link via the Museum’s website click here.

The Museum Winter Lecture series is sponsored by The Friends

Pharaonic Egypt has an enduring hold on the popular imagination that few other ancient civilizations can match.  Glamour, mystery, fear and a strange sense of familiarity have combined to create both an intoxicating mirage – but also a monolithic ‘museum culture’.  This lecture interrogates the child-like wonder of first encounters with ‘Ancient Egypt’, its various influences in Western perceptions and explores the circularity of influences between museums and popular culture.

Speaker: Dr Campbell Price has been Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum since 2011.  He studied Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, where he is now an Honorary Research Fellow.

This is the last of the Winter Lecture series.

The lecture is free, but you will be encouraged to make a donation.  It is available as an in-person talk at M Shed or as a livestream over Zoom.  To register for a place / the livestream link via the Museum’s website click here.

The Museum Winter Lecture series is sponsored by The Friends