Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro

Opened in 1818, at about the time when Cornwall’s tin-mining prosperity was first beginning to wane, the Royal Institution of Cornwall was founded primarily to promote knowledge about the archaeology, history and culture of the county. Not surprisingly, its major exhibit is the internationally renowned Rashleigh Collection of Cornish Minerals - which includes the world's largest crystal of copper ore - but there are other good collections, too. Outstanding are the De Pass Collection of English and European Old Master drawings and the collection of paintings by Cornish artists including portraitist John Opie and Newlyn School member Henry Scott Tuke. Applied Arts exhibits include pewter, pottery, porcelain, scrimshaw and Japanese ivories and lacquer-work. Local History and Archaeology are both well represented - highlight is three early Bronze Age collars of beaten gold, the only such ones found in England - and there is a scale model of Trevithick's 1804 Penydaren locomotive. There is a good caf� (in its own art gallery) and a well-stocked shop. Whilst in Truro you will also find a twentieth century cathedral and plenty of good shops, caf�s and restaurants.

Royal Cornwall Museum

The photo is from the museum's own web site.