On Friday 28 November, visitors can enjoy a birthday cake-cutting moment, live poetry on demand from award-winning Brummie poet Bradley Taylor and a performance by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Trumpet Club.
Over the whole weekend, there will be opportunities to go behind the scenes into parts of the museum that visitors don’t usually see with ‘hidden spaces’ taster tours, as well as a trail of party hats concealed among the objects on show in the museum’s galleries and ‘my first museum’ tours for young visitors under five years of age and their families.
The museum building was officially opened on Saturday 28 November 1885 by the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII).
Since then, it is estimated that around 100 million people have visited the museum.
After having closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, a programme of essential maintenance works had to be carried out across the Grade II* listed building, which included electrical work, upgrades to heating, roof repairs and replacing lifts.
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery opened to public once again in October 2024 in the first phase of its reopening, with new displays in the Round Room and Industrial Gallery, two new galleries dedicated to children and families, telling stories about nature in the city, as well as the re-opening of the tearoom.
This was followed by the reopening of its history galleries in May 2025, along with a new display, The Elephant in the Room, which explores how artefacts from around the world came to be part of Birmingham Museums’ collections.
Watch Us Lead, an exhibition by multi-disciplinary artist Christopher Samuel which highlights the disabled experience in Birmingham, opened in June.
The phased reopening has continued with a new display of over 60 works from the city’s Pre-Raphaelite collection across four newly refurbished galleries and full public access to the Staffordshire Hoard in October 2025.
Sara Wajid and Zak Mensah, co-chief executives of Birmingham Museums Trust, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming visitors to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery to help us celebrate its 140th anniversary this month.
“From its foundation in the 19th century, the museum has been woven into the fabric of Birmingham life.
“We’re proud to celebrate the many stories it holds - and even prouder to help write its next chapter.
“This milestone isn't just a look back - it's an invitation to imagine what lies ahead and to celebrate a museum that is evolving with its city and reminding us that cultural institutions can be vibrant, inclusive and rooted in local stories.”
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is open Monday to Sunday from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm. General admission is free. Donations are welcome.
