The Higgins, Art gallery and museum in Bedford, United Kingdom.
The Higgins is an art and local history museum in Bedford that displays archaeological finds, social history objects, drawings, paintings, prints, and decorative arts across several gallery rooms. The collection covers British and local works from many periods, giving a broad picture of the region's art and everyday past.
The museum was formed by merging Bedford's separate art gallery and local museum, which reopened together in 2015 after a major renovation. That brought the town's collections under one roof for the first time.
The Higgins holds one of the most complete collections of work by Edward Bawden, a British printmaker whose illustrations and designs shaped much of 20th-century graphic art. Visitors can follow his output across different media, from watercolors to printed posters, all gathered in one place.
The museum sits on Castle Lane in Bedford town center and is easy to reach on foot from the main shopping streets. Since the building connects several structures at different points, it helps to follow the signs inside to keep your bearings as you move through each section.
One part of the building was once a brewery, and traces of its industrial past are still visible in the structure of that section. The way it connects to a Victorian house and a modern extension means each room feels different as you walk through the museum.
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