The Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter has beennamed the UK's museum of the year by the Art Fund charity.
Founded in1868, the museum re-opened in December after a £24m renovation. It will nowreceive £100,000 along with the prestigious title.
It houses adiverse collection consisting of more than a million objects from around theworld.
Lord Smith ofFinsbury, who chaired the judging panel, described the attraction as"quite simply a magical place".
Explaining thedecision, Lord Smith said: "Every exhibit delights with a new surprise,and provokes with a new question.
"At a timewhen local authority museums in particular are in such danger, this brilliantachievement proves how daring, adventurous and important such institutions canbe."
The winner heldoff stiff competition from three other shortlisted venues - the new HepworthWakefield in West Yorkshire, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery inEdinburgh, and Watts Gallery, near Guildford in Surrey.
The Exetermuseum's recent redevelopment created new exhibition spaces, repaired thebuilding and created a space for school parties and other groups.
But the revampcost 60% more than anticipated and was hit by delays.
The museum'svast collection is divided into antiquities, ethnography, natural history,decorative and fine arts.
'Makinghistory'
It focuses onboth local and world history. Among its items are paintings by Gainsborough andReynolds, while the zoology section includes more than 120,000 butterflies andmoths, 8,500 birds and 1,200 mammals.
Exeter Councilleader Pete Edwards, said: "Exeter has a long and rich history, which iswell recorded in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. It's great that today it'sthe museum that is making history."
The winner wasannounced live on BBC Radio 4's Front Row and at a special event at the BritishMuseum in London.
Now in its 10thyear, 2011's Art Fund prize was awarded to the British Museum after the successof its History of the World project, which attempted to tell the story ofhumanity in 100 objects.
Previouswinners include the Ulster Museum, Stoke-on-Trent's Wedgwood Museum and theNational Mining Museum in Wales.
Source: BBC
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