2003

NZ0516 : The Silver Swan, Bowes Museum

taken 21 years ago, near to Barnard Castle, County Durham, England

The Silver Swan, Bowes Museum
The Silver Swan, Bowes Museum
A musical automaton and icon of the museum, the Silver Swan dates from 1774 and was purchased for the museum by John Bowes from a Parisian jeweller in 1872 for £200.
LinkExternal link (Archive LinkExternal link )
Bowes Museum

John Bowes (1811-85) was the illegitimate son of the tenth Earl of Strathmore. He spent many years living in France where he met and married Josephine Benoite, Countess of Montalbo. The couple amassed a large collection of objets d'art before returning to England and the Bowes Museum was designed to receive this collection and display it to the public. Bowes acquired land for the museum in 1869-70 in an area immediately east of Barnard Castle shown on the 1856 OS map as open fields.

Both Bowes and his wife died before completion of the project, but work was continued by the trustees and the museum was opened in 1892. Trusteeship of the museum was transferred to Durham County Council in 1956 and remains open to the public.

List Entry Number: 1000728 LinkExternal link
The Bowes Museum website: LinkExternal link


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Andrew Curtis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Category: Museum > Museum
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Bowes Museum [78] ·
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NZ0516, 399 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Andrew Curtis   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 5 December, 2003   (more nearby)
Submitted
Monday, 31 August, 2009
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NZ 055 163 [100m precision]
WGS84: 54:32.5214N 1:54.9530W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NZ 055 163
View Direction
North-northeast (about 22 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Supplemental image
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