Work has started to install a £50,000 CCTV system to protect valuable exhibits on show at one of a Black Country borough’s most popular tourist attractions. Technicians are putting in cameras at the Broadfield House Glass Museum.
The technology is expected to be running by the end of the month. The security work is necessary to ensure the museum continues to comply with its insurance policy. Dudley Council, which owns the museum in Compton Drive, Kingswinford, stressed the investment was not a response to vandalism.
It said it was part of an ongoing review of security at the museum.
Situated near the historic Stourbridge Glass Quarter, the museum is regarded as one of the best glass museums in the country.
The museum displays a collection of British glass, much made locally, dating from the 17th century up to the present day.
A programme of events and temporary exhibitions are showcased at the museum each year. The current exhibition is entitled The Secret Garden and features vases depicting engraved images of birds, flowers and butterflies which have never been shown before.
The museum was opened by Princess Michael of Kent on April 2 1980 almost a century after one visionary wrote in The Pottery Gazette: “It is a matter of much regret that, unlike Birmingham, Stourbridge should still be without an art gallery or museum, in which might be shown specimens of the beautiful glass made in the town and which have given the district a more than European reputation.
“What is sadly wanted is a public museum, in which may be exhibited to the public at large samples of the best qualities of glass.
“Such a collection would tend to foster a love of the beautiful on the part of the residents.”
Thousands have visited in the past 28 years to view some of the finest collections of glasswork in the country.
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