Bath International Music Festival

History of Bath
Bath Abbey
Pulteney Bridge
The Holburne Museum
The Victoria Art Gallery
Theatre Royal
Roman Baths
Pump Rooms
Royal Crescent
The Circus
Jane Austen's Bath

At the eastern end of Great Pulteney Street, this fine late 18th century building began life as the Sydney Hotel, the heart of the Sydney Pleasure Gardens which were visited by Jane Austen from nearby Sydney Place.
Transformed into the Holburne Museum in 1916, it now houses the superb art collection formed by Sir William Holburne in 19th century Bath.

Widely known for his silver and Old Master paintings, Sir William also collected Italian bronzes, such as the famous Susini once owned by King Louis XIV, maiolica, porcelain, glass, furniture and portrait miniatures.

His legacy has since been greatly enriched with landscapes by Guardi and Turner, portraits by Stubbs, Ramsay, Zoffany and of course Gainsborough, who spent sixteen formative years in Bath.
Bath connections are also well represented by Angelica Kauffmann's portrait of Henrietta Laura Pulteney, Hone's miniature of Beau Nash, the city's famous Master of Ceremonies and Joseph Plura's masterpiece Diana and Endymion, made in Bath in 1752.

Since 1977 the Museum has also housed the Crafts Study Centre, with its unique archive of 20th century British craft, furniture by Ernest Gimson, textiles, calligraphy and ceramics by Bernard Leach, Hans Coper and Lucie Rie.