A museum dedicated to Birmingham’s jewellery-making heritage has been ranked alongside some of the world’s top tourist attractions.
The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, in Vyse Street, rubs shoulders with the likes of the Pantheon in Rome and Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral in the international survey.
The list of free international tourist attractions was compiled by travel website TripAdvisor.com, described as the world’s largest travel community with more than 25 million monthly visitors, six million registered members and 15 million reviews and opinions.
The museum was placed third in the Top 10 Free European attractions, behind the Pantheon and the National Gallery in London but ahead of institutions like Notre Dame and St Mark’s Basilica. It was also ranked top of 144 attractions in Birmingham.
The former home of the Smith & Pepper jewellery manufacturing firm, which ceased trading in 1981, the museum has been preserved as a “time capsule” workshop. It tells the story of the 200-year-old Jewellery Quarter and the ancient craft skills still practised in the workshop that made the area the centre of the British jewellery industry.
Comments left on the website by fans of the museum include: “If you like history or nostalgia this is the place for you. It’s like stepping back in time into an old jewellery manufacturer”, and “This place is a walk through time capsule. Left virtually unchanged since the doors closed for business back in 1981 - even then it was a museum piece.”
Andy Munro, operations director of the Jewellery Quarter Regeneration Partnership, said the news was “great” for the region and added he hoped it would see a further increase in tourism. We want to attract more visitors into the area and the museum as a big part of that,” he said.
TripAdvisor spokeswoman Michele Perry added the list of free attractions was compiled for the website’s visitors, who wanted to save money on their summer holidays.
