Portsmouth Museum & Art Gallery

The City Museum explores different facets of Portsmouth's rich and varied history - from the everyday to moments when the city has played its role in national and international events.  The city's art and design collections are showcased here.

Portsmouth is the birthplace of the novelist Charles Dickens and the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (conceived of here by his creator Arthur Conan Doyle).  For this year only - the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens - visitors can experience two great writers at the City Museum.

The museum provides an excellent introduction to the city for visitors and its inviting spaces and events programme are popular with residents. 

The museum with its turrets and pointed roofs - reminiscent of a fairy-tale castle- is in fact a former barracks.  Its formally laid out, south-facing garden is used in the summer for events.

The museum is home to a new Visitor Information point which means visitors can find out about the city's wider cultural offer as well as booking accommodation and tickets to the city's other cultural venues and attractions.