Shrewsbury museum and art gallery opens today

Museum staff were putting the finishing touches to the thousands of exhibits and artefacts prior to the doors opening at 10am today.

A team of volunteers and curators were on hand to ensure all went smoothly as the hotly anticipated opening time drew closer.

Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council cabinet member for visitor economy, said: "Today marks the culmination of a huge amount of incredibly hard work from a lot of people, and we are delighted to see the doors of this magnificent building open to the public again."

Amongst the 300,000 exhibits are a pair of Queen Victoria's stockings, fossilised raindrops and Roman remains discovered at Wroxeter, on the outskirts of Shrewsbury.

The museum, which is housed in the town's former Music Hall, was due to be completed in 2011 but opening was delayed due to major structural issues.

Part of the museum contains the remains of the town's oldest building - Vaughan's Mansion, which was built in the 13th century and which was originally the home of the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery after a move from the museum's founding home in Dogpole in 1853. The museum later moved to Rowley's House in the 1930s.

Visitors to the museum will be able to see the Guilsfield Bronze Age Hoard, the Condover mammoth, a great Auk and a collection of 9,315 bronze Roman coins discovered by a metal detectorist in a field near Shrewsbury in August 2009. The coins were found in a large pottery storage jar that was buried in about AD 335.

There are also medieval and Tudor galleries, a gallery dedicated to the history of Shrewsbury and a contemporary art gallery containing works by Turner prize-winner Damien Hirst and Turner nominee Tracey Emin.

Entrance to the Prehistory & Roman Gallery is free of charge. For the rest of the museum entrance costs £4 adults and £2 for children. The museum is open from 10am-5pm seven days a week. The museum has a visitor's information centre and a cafe.