The Armitt Collection, Ambleside, Cumbria

About Us

The Armitt Collection is a unique place combining Gallery, Museum and Library. It is a treasure-house for scholarship and fun, art and entertainment. It encapsulates all that is best about Lakeland and its people and preserves that essence for future generations to enjoy. The Armitt Collection is situated in Ambleside, Cumbria, in the very heart of the magnificent English Lake District.

The new Armitt Centre, which we moved to in 1997, is a beautiful building and was designed and built with the care of the Collection as the primary aim. The Armitt Collection has an astounding collection of Art, Archaeology, Archives, Books, Geology, Photography and Local History.

The Museum Shop is a treasure trove of books, both modern and antiquarian, photographs, prints, greeting cards, stationery and other delightful gifts for all ages inspired by the artefacts in the Collection.

Our only source of income to run the Centre is through Museum admissions and fund-raising events. Your support is vital for us to maintain and develop this inspirational Lakeland resource into the future.....

Contact Info

The Armitt Collection
Rydal Road
Ambleside
Cumbria
LA22 9BL

Phone: 015394 31212
Fax: 015394 31313
Email: Click Here>>

Registered Charity No. 1054762

Current Exhibition

The Triumph of Kurt Schwitters

Beatrix Potter on Holiday

The Armitt Collection is showing the early natural history drawings and watercolours of children's author Beatrix Potter in our new exhibition Beatrix Potter on Holiday - Illustrations Drawn from Nature.

The exhibition is also part of the Beatrix Potter Trail to coincide with the new film Miss Potter. It runs until the middle of 2008 and is open daily.

The Triumph of Kurt Schwitters by Barbara Crossley is a stimulating biography of this remarkable man and the astonishing range of his works. More details>>

Price £20 plus £3.50 p&p

Published in 2005 by the Armitt Trust

Buy Now

The Triumph of Kurt Schwitters

The Triumph of Kurt Schwitters illuminates Schwitters' idiosyncratic life...revealing a personality of infinite contradictions. In this stimulating biography Barbara Crossley discovers...the fiercely ambitious artist...the politically and socially conscious thinker who embraced the absurd, the lover and the fighter who knew that beyond his death his work would survive to shape our times.

Schwitters believed that art is 'a spiritual function of man, which aims at freeing him from the chaos of life'. In these times of political uncertainty and dogmatic fundamentalism his credo has become increasingly more appropriate. We need art and culture to stimulate moral and ethical values and aspirations, which are necessary for securing a future worth living.

Out of sync throughout his life, Schwitters deserves our attention more than ever. The Triumph of Kurt Schwitters is an important contribution to our understanding of this remarkable man and the astonishing range of his works. ISBN 0-9539244-1-6