Derby Museum and Art Gallery

You're standing at Derby Museum and Art Gallery. The building opened in 1879, together with the city's central library. It was a gift from Michael Thomas Bass, and the architect was Richard Knill Freeman. The art gallery followed three years later. The museum itself is older. It began in 1836 as a society of enthusiasts, with collections of minerals, stuffed birds and fossils that moved from room to room around town.