Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm
Visit Us
Address: 16 Queen Square, Bath, BA1 2HN
Accessbility
Our 1st floor rooms & toilet facilities have step-free access via lift. Please ring bell at entrance for assistance
There is currently no step-free access to the ground floor exhibition space
A cultural hub in the heart of the city, Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution promotes scientific, literary and artistic knowledge through cultural activities within the community.
From our Georgian building in Bath’s Queen Square you can watch talks on a wide range of topics, attend workshops and exhibitions, or stop in the weekly Saturday coffee morning to chat with like-minded people. If you are looking for a place to hold a meeting or event we also hire 4 rooms with space for 5 to 100 people.
The Institution cares for a treasure trove of natural history artefacts, with items spanning archaeology, ethnology, zoology, mineralogy, botany and palaeontology – a fascinating historical core that inspires many of our activities and exhibitions. Learn more about the Collection here.
Among our permanent displays (free to visitors) is the first extra-terrestrial object collected and described on Earth: a piece of a 4.2 billion-year-old meteorite collected in Siberia in 1779.
Many of the exhibits on permanent display are linked to our Bath Discovery Trails smartphone app. By following these trails you will discover aspects of the city and its history of which you may have been completely unaware. You can access the app via our Bath discovery trails page.