Black Country Living Museum Black Country Living Museum The Black Country Living Museum (formerly The Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is located in the centre of the Black Country, 10 miles west of Birmingham. The museum occupies of former industrial land partly reclaimed from a former railway goods yard, disused lime kilns, canal arm and former coal pits. The museum opened to the public in 1978, and has since added over 50 shops, houses and other industrial buildings from around the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall and the City of
Melbourne's Living Museum of the West of Melbourne's West". From its beginnings in Footscray, the Living Museum expanded its collection and staff to outgrow the small premises, and with assistance from Arts Victoria, which provided core funding from its establishment, it moved to a refurbished industrial site. The Living Museum is now housed in the former industrial buildings at Pipemakers Park Van Ness Avenue, Maribyrnong, which were refurbished under a $2 million Australian Bicentenary grant in 1987–88, and are owned by Parks Victoria, with a lease arrangement with the Living Museum. The venue includes a visitor and research centre with staff offices, and large exhibition space