Shrewsbury Museum celebrates a year since opening

The town's former Music Hall and 13th century Vaughan's Mansion, which was converted into the museum and art gallery, has welcomed 80,000 visitors in the first year.

And to mark a year since it opened its doors to the public on April 1 last year, the venue is launching a new family ticket which gives entry to two adults and up to three children aged five to 17 for £10.

Staff at the stop. Café, which ibs based in the venue, also made a cake to commemorate the occasion.

Bosses of the venue say not only are the buildings packed with treasures from Shropshire dating back to before Roman times, but it is inspiring people to go out and explore the many historical sites around the county, such as Wroxeter and Ironbridge.

The museum and art gallery's special exhibitions programme has seen internationally famous works of art put on show in Shrewsbury for the first time.

The current presentation, Secret Egypt – Unravelling Truth From Myth, has been the most popular, attracting thousands of families and school pupils to view its exhibits, including a real mummy.

Staff say they are now predicting a busy Easter with three exhibitions for visitors to enjoy – Secret Egypt, plus Railway Heritage, and Treasure! Discovering The Staffordshire Hoard.

Louise Cross, visitor economy manager with Shropshire Council, said: "It's been an incredible first year for the new museum and art gallery.

"The buildings have been superbly restored and were recently honoured with a Civic Trust Award. I have been delighted that so many people have come to enjoy the facilities including the galleries, special exhibitions, visitor information centre and stop. Café.

"The council is continuing to invest in our cultural and heritage facilities despite the difficult financial climate. I look forward to the coming year when we will have lots of new attractions at the museum and art gallery for local people and visitors to enjoy."

As of yesterday the facilities will now be open from 10am to 5pm daily through the spring and summer season.

The creation of the new museum and art gallery in Shrewsbury was not without difficulty.

It opened in April last year, two years late after £10.7 million was spent transforming the town's former Music Hall.

Work began in the summer of 2009 and structural problems were responsible for some of the delays.

Even when builders found a way around those issues, there were wrangles over who was responsible for the over-run of the project.