We will be closed today, May 26th, in honor of Memorial Day. #RuffitheMuseumCat hopes that you each can find a bit of sun to kick off your summer! (fb)

Queen Victoria's 206th birthday is tomorrow, May 24th! Though the Queen never visited the house in Portland that would later become a museum named in her honor, we like to mark her birthday with free admission for all Victorias and Alberts. Victoria Mansion got its name in 1940, when siblings William and Clara Holmes converted the house into a museum, and the Mansion opened to visitors the following year as an example of the architecture, art, and culture prevalent throughout Victoria's reign. In the mid-1940s, we even received a gift in Queen Victoria's honor, donated by her grandson, King George: you can see this donation, a painting of Victoria and Albert's summer home, Osborne House, hanging in the Library hall. We have now been a museum for longer than the house was occupied as a home, and have in the decades since the 1940s been fortunate to collect back more than 90% of the original furnishings and interiors. If you are a Victoria or Albert planning a visit to Victoria Mansion on the 24th, you can always reserve tickets ahead of time by calling (207) 772-4841. #VictoriaMansion #QueenVictoria #NationalHistoricLandmark #PortlandMaine #museums 📷Queen Victoria at the Drury Lane Theatre, Edmund Thomas Parris, 1837 Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (fb)