Thinktank science museum opens at Millennium Point

Birmingham's new science museum, Thinktank, has opened its doors at Millennium Point, the £114 million development on Curzon Street in the Eastside of the city centre.

Thinktank opened on 29 September. It replaces the city's old Museum of Science and Industry, which closed in 1997.

A new home for the city's collections

Birmingham's science and industry collection dates back to the mid-19th century, when it began with weapons from the gun trade and the Birmingham Proof House. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which opened in 1885, included science collections, and in 1951 the Museum of Science and Industry opened in the former Elkington Silver Electroplating Works on Newhall Street.

Over the years the museum built up objects and whole collections relating to local industry and the history of science and technology.

In 1995, Birmingham City Council decided to move the museum when the Millennium Commission offered the chance to build a new building. Thinktank has been funded by the city council with support from the Millennium Commission.

What visitors will find

Thinktank has four floors of more than 200 hands-on exhibits and artefacts. Each floor has a theme, moving from The Past on the lowest level, through The Balcony and The Present, to The Future gallery at the top.

Its collections include aircraft, locomotives, trams, cars and a large collection of stationary steam engines. Many objects are on display for the first time in years, while others are being kept at the city's museum collection centre.

Unlike the old Museum of Science and Industry, which was free to enter, Thinktank charges an entrance fee.

Millennium Point

Thinktank shares the Millennium Point building with the University of Central England. The complex also includes a giant IMAX cinema screen, which has opened this month and is the largest cinema screen in the region.

The development sits in Eastside, near Aston University and the Gun Quarter, which for many years was the centre of the world's gun-making industry. Opposite are The Woodman pub and the old Curzon Street railway station, both listed buildings.

A new district

Millennium Point is one of the first major new developments in Eastside, on the edge of the city centre.

For families and schools across the region, Thinktank offers a new, hands-on way to explore how Birmingham's inventors and industries helped shape the modern world.

Thinktank is run by the independent Thinktank Trust, separately from the city's other museums.

The museum is on Curzon Street, on the edge of Digbeth.