The Brunel Museum

Story

The Brunel Museum is a museum in the Brunel Engine House, Rotherhithe, London Borough of Southwark. The Engine House was designed by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel to be part of the infrastructure of the Thames Tunnel.Brunel Engine HouseThe Engine House was designed by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel to be part of the infrastructure of the Thames Tunnel. It held steam-powered pumps used to extract water from the tunnel.Since 1961 the building has been used as a museum displaying information on the construction of the tunnel and the other projects by Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Structural decay was prevented in 1975 by a charitable trust named "Brunel Exhibition Rotherhithe".In 2006 the museum changed its name from Brunel Engine House to Brunel Museum and has expanded its exhibition to include a new mural on the shaft showing the tunnel shield, and other works by the Brunels, such as models of famous Brunel bridges incorporated into bench seating.Open House WeekendThe Brunel Museum takes part in the Open House Weekend event every year and, until the East London Line's temporary closure in 2007, took parties of people through the tunnel on the Underground trains as part of a guided tour of the tunnel.