About
The Box is Plymouth's flagship museum, gallery, and archive — a transformed cultural institution that opened in its current form in 2020 following a landmark £46 million redevelopment and expansion. Housed in a collection of beautifully restored and newly built spaces that include a magnificent Victorian chapel at their heart, The Box brings together Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, and the South West Film and Television Archive in a single world-class venue that tells the story of Plymouth and the wider south-west with ambition, quality, and remarkable depth.
The transformation of what was formerly Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery involved not just restoration and expansion but a fundamental rethinking of how the collections should be arranged, interpreted, and made accessible to visitors. The result is a museum that uses its extraordinary holdings — built up over more than a century — to tell interconnected stories across natural history, human history, maritime adventure, art, and contemporary culture. The Victorian chapel that was incorporated into the new building provides a soaring central atrium of great architectural beauty, its original Gothic stonework and stained glass now framing a contemporary cultural space of impressive character.
Plymouth's story is among the most dramatic and significant in British history, and The Box tells it with the seriousness and richness it deserves. The city was the departure point for Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the globe (1577-80), for the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada (1588), and — most famously of all — for the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed from Plymouth on the Mayflower in September 1620, an act that directly shaped the founding of the United States of America. The museum also addresses Plymouth's role as the principal naval base of the Royal Navy in the western approaches, its devastating experience of the Blitz in 1941 (when the city was one of the most heavily bombed in Britain outside London), and its remarkable postwar rebuilding.
The fine art collection assembled by the museum over more than a century is of considerable quality and range, covering British painting and sculpture from the eighteenth century to the present day with particular strengths in maritime art, portraits, and the work of artists with Devon connections. The natural history collections, including extensive geological and zoological specimens gathered by nineteenth-century collectors from across the globe, add a further dimension to the museum's encyclopaedic character.
The South West Film and Television Archive at The Box holds an irreplaceable collection of film and television material relating to life in Devon, Cornwall, and the wider south-west — from early actualities and newsreel footage to documentary films and broadcast programming — providing a moving-image record of the region's social history that complements the object and archival collections.
Categories:
Highlights
Plymouth's Maritime Heritage — Drake, Armada, and the Mayflower
The maritime history galleries at The Box tell Plymouth's extraordinary story as the departure point for some of the most significant voyages in the history of the English-speaking world. Drake's circumnavigation of the globe (1577-80), the departure of the English fleet to meet the Spanish Armada (1588), and the sailing of the Mayflower with the Pilgrim Fathers for New England in September 1620 — all these events began from Plymouth's harbour, and The Box tells their stories with original objects, documents, and contemporary accounts of remarkable immediacy.
The collections relating to the Mayflower voyage and its consequences for American history are of particular depth and quality.
The Restored Victorian Chapel
The architectural heart of The Box is a magnificently restored Victorian Gothic chapel — formerly part of Plymouth Girls' High School — whose soaring nave, original stonework, and stained glass windows now form the centrepiece of the museum's main atrium. The decision to incorporate and restore the chapel rather than demolish it transformed what could have been a purely functional museum building into a space of genuine architectural distinction, creating a sense of occasion and cultural weight that enriches the visitor experience before any exhibit has been encountered.
The contrast between the Victorian Gothic fabric and the contemporary museum design surrounding it is handled with considerable skill.
The Fine Art Collection
Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery accumulated a significant collection of British art over more than a century of collecting, and the finest works are now displayed at The Box in galleries that present the collection with the quality it deserves. Maritime paintings are a particular strength, reflecting Plymouth's character as a naval city and port, but the collection also includes important examples of portrait painting, landscape, and genre work spanning the eighteenth century to the present day.
Works by artists with Devon connections are featured alongside pieces of broader national importance, and the gallery's acquisitions programme continues to develop the collection in relation to the city's contemporary cultural life.
Devonport and the Royal Navy
Plymouth's identity as a naval city is one of the most important themes in The Box's permanent collections. Devonport Naval Dockyard — the largest in the western hemisphere at the height of its activity — shaped the city's economy, population, culture, and self-understanding for over three centuries.
The museum's holdings relating to the Royal Navy's presence at Plymouth include ship models, naval instruments, documents, paintings, and personal objects that together tell the story of an institution that was, for much of its history, the most powerful naval force in the world and whose home was Plymouth.
The human stories of the sailors, shipwrights, and dockyard workers who made this possible are given particular attention.
Collections
Mayflower 400 and Plymouth's Maritime Story
The permanent maritime history galleries exploring Plymouth's role in Drake's circumnavigation, the Spanish Armada, the Mayflower voyage, and the city's centuries of association with the Royal Navy and maritime trade.
Natural History Galleries
The geological, zoological, and botanical collections of Plymouth City Museum, displayed in updated thematic galleries addressing natural history, the environment, and the history of scientific collecting.
Art Galleries
The fine art collection from Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, displayed across multiple gallery spaces with a particular strength in maritime painting and works by Devon artists spanning the eighteenth century to the present.
Current Exhibitions
The Box operates a programme of major and minor temporary exhibitions throughout the year, ranging from large-scale national touring exhibitions to locally originated shows drawing on the permanent collections and archive. Check the website for current programme details and admission charges.