Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution

Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution

Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
4.5
Points of Interest & Landmarks
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
Closed
About
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution is a cultural hub, museum and independent treasure rolled into one. With a mission to promote Science, Literature and Art to the City of Bath and thanks to the power of digital technology the wider world, BRLSI is nonprofit making and provides world class lectures, both online and in-house for as little as £2.00 a ticket. Providing community space for those interested in cultural activities, BRLSI maintain rich geographical and ethnological collections of world renown, host art exhibitions, and provide a valuable space for you to debate with like-minded friends. As if that were not enough, BRLSI champion Heritage projects in the wider community, share past content with you via their VirtualBRLSI YouTube Channel, take you on walks of Bath by way of their new digital walking app, which is free alongside being fun and informative, and invite you to become a member of a warm and inclusive community that has been in existence since 1824.
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

Are you currently on your trip?
Help us find experiences available for you.
The area
Address
Reach out directly

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.


We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles11 reviews
Excellent
6
Very good
4
Average
0
Poor
1
Terrible
0

Zooker
Midsomer Norton, UK3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2021
As a fan of natural history museums, the BRLSI exhibition was smaller than I had expected, composing of only one medium-sized room. However, what the exhibition lacked in size it made up for in quality. The Jurassic Ark exhibition features detailed, three-dimensional fossils with soft tissue preserved, giving visitors a clear view of the past. Combined with the excellent illustrations, it almost felt like visiting a zoo of extinct animals.

The exhibitions are complemented with some fascinating educational content too, about the history of the discovery of the fossils by Charles Moore, and their geological context in the ‘Lower Jurassic’, as well as inferences and speculations about how these animals may have lived and interacted with one another.

Don’t plan an entire day trip for the exhibition alone, but make it part of something larger – the Bath Discovery Trails app is excellent for this, making the exhibition one stop on a long but manageable walk around the city. There were four trails available, each associated with an artefact on display. Otherwise, just popping in during a day out in the city is a good idea.

It's also important to mention that visiting BRLSI is free of charge. You have nothing to lose but time, and a lot to gain by visiting. Still, I happily gave the £3 donation at the front desk.

I certainly recommend this place for anyone with an interest in natural history. Though make sure you keep kids’ expectations in check, or they might be disappointed at the small size of the exhibition, and the lack of massive dinosaur skeletons.
Written 26 August 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Katrina K
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Family
We had a wonderful visit to the BRLSI science event Bath Taps into Science over the weekend. My children - aged 8, 5 and 2 all were entertained, and the older two learnt a lot. My eldest came away determined to look up the carbon footprint of different vegetables and the five year old asked a lot of complex questions about lasers! Thank you for a brilliant free event, we all enjoyed and are looking forward to the next one.
Written 23 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

james0fbath
Bath, UK5 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2023
Small but perfectly formed! A small exhibition room with a lovely looking display of minerals. Lots of kids activities going on. Free but donations expected.
Written 3 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

lesley h
Retford, UK662 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2019 • Couples
A quirky place; I think this place has exhibits from ‘guest curators ‘ that change frequently. It only takes 10 minutes to see everything but I learned quite a lot in a short time. Did you know that smoke enemas were given to people to restart their hearts after drowning? That’s one thing I learned
I don’t think it’s worth going out of your way to visit this place but it’s free so worth popping in if you’re passing
Written 27 July 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Cornish_traveller43
Merriott, UK706 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2018
Attended a meeting at Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution - what a wonderful location on Queen Square! An elegant building with high ceilings, classical Regency facade.
Staff were young & enthusiastic & I was impressed by the number & breadth of the activities/meetings advertised. It is so good to see organisations like this thriving.

There are fascinating permanent displays.
More power to their elbows!

It's not BRLSI's fault but it's such a pity that the ambience of the square is ruined by frequent emergency sirens (travelling 3 sides of square) & very noisy motorbikes.
Written 21 September 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

xzxlililxzx
Bath, UK6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2017
Lots going on! As well as a truly brilliant exhibition on minerals with lots if beautiful specimens, they have many lectures each month, usually by university professors, and events (such as Japanese sake tasting!). Really recommend seeking this place out.
Written 24 September 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jeff1903
King's Lynn, UK1,449 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2017 • Solo
I came across the Institution by accident while wandering around. Until the end of September they have an exhibition about minerals which features close up photographs of various minerals and a number of samples of interesting and in some cases spectacular examples. There is only one room, and not much science, so it should appeal to passers by and people who like nice pictures as well as hard core geologists. The posters around advertise all kinds of interesting events, so it seems like a vibrant society.
Written 25 July 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Brian-Snellgrove
Midsomer Norton, UK1,872 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2017 • Couples
If you are visiting Bath, at least pop in the front door and see what is on in this particular month. Right in front of you there are a selection of leaflets.

This is an amazing institution, founded in the 19th century by some prominent residents of Bath; it opened in 1824. the whole venture is run by volunteers who give of their time to run a range of interests for the minority that could not happen if everyone was paid. Er - it is not stuffy at all.

About the volunteers, some are more communicative than others shall we say. I suspect this is management rather than anything else but if treated well, you will get a good response. Again, just remember they're doing this week after week for no financial reward

Today we saw the continuing exhibition of "the Year With No Summer", and accounts of a large volcano explosion in 1816 which produced a cloud of dust around the whole earth which lasted two years. Incidentally to one of the other reviewers, or the exhibitions are on the ground floor within plain sight and I think you must have misread the dates because they always do what they say they going to do.

We then had a fascinating talk upstairs from Ph.D. students who were invited to sum up their subject of study in 5 min. I can tell you that it is much more difficult to sum up a topic in 5 min then 40 min or 50 min. Five people offered talks on widely differing subjects including the reading of poetry to prisoners, water purification in Africa, and the use of light as a device to moderate DNA.

This is where you can find interesting and knowledgeable people at the drop of a hat and the culture is such that you can chat with anyone over coffee before or after a talk. Entry prices are two pounds for members and four pounds for members of the public.

I have taken a few photographs which give you some idea of the atmosphere and layout of the place.

2 February 2017
Written 3 February 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

bargill33
Cheltenham, UK44 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2016 • Business
Attended a talk there this evening. Helpful staff; good disabled access via the next door company. Vibrant atmosphere as there were other exhibitions and talks going on. Would rush back if lived nearer but am going on their mailing list!
Written 7 October 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

wendyanddavid536
Solihull, UK2,117 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2016 • Couples
We came to the BRLSI to see a geological exhibition that we had seen advertised. We hunted high and low, but could not find it.

We went to the reception desk to enquire; there was no one on the desk, but several people in the office behind, who studiously ignored us until we called out for attention - not very impressive. They knew nothing about a geological exhibition at the BRLSI, so we had a completely wasted journey.
Written 5 August 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Showing results 1-10 of 11
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing

BATH ROYAL LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION (2025) All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

All Bath HotelsBath Hotel DealsLast Minute Hotels in BathHotels near Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
All things to do in Bath
RestaurantsFlightsHoliday RentalsTravel StoriesCruisesCar Hire