On Wednesday the new Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Reverend Alan Smith, visited Verulamium Museum and got to see all the work that goes on behind the scenes (and in some cases right underneath the galleries!) to keep a busy museum running. When he came to see the museum image library, we thought we should show him some of our oldest images of the abbey, like this one from the 1600s.

The North Prospect of Ye Sometymes Conuentuall Church of St Alban. Drawn and engraved by Daniel King, late 1600s.

On a more lighthearted note, we thought he might like to see this picture of Robert Runcie when he was bishop of St Albans, pictured with his gargoyle - not many people are lucky enough to be immortalised in this way!

Lord Robert Runcie, Bishop of St Albans 1970-1980, with his gargoyle at St Albans Abbey, 1979.

It is always nice to show visitors around the museum, and it is good to be reminded how exciting it is to work in a museum. There's nothing like seeing your work place through fresh eyes! Hopefully our gueses enjoyed their visit as much as we did.

Iraq - A New Face . Number 5 in a series of 15 portraits of Kurdish/Iraqi people by Ben Hodson & Ian Rowlands.

Just a reminder that there is going to be a photography workshop going on this Saturday 7th November at the Museum of St Albans. It will be led by Ben Hodson and Ian Rowlands, the photographers who curated our current temporary exhibition Iraq - The Forgotten Story . Many of their photographs appear in the exhibition and on Saturday they will be sharing their knowledge and experience of photographing other cultures. This workshop is for photographers of all abilities - you don't have to be a professional with a fancy camera! Come along and pick up some tips on improving your photographs.

Iraq - A New Face . Number 10 in a series of 15 portraits of Kurdish/Iraqi people by Ben Hodson & Ian Rowlands.

The workshop will run from 11:00am - 4:00pm and is a bargain at £4.00 for the day, or £3.50 for Friends of St Albans Museums. For more details or to book your place pop in to the Museum of St Albans on Hatfield Road or call on (01727) 819340.

You can also find details about this event on Facebook

There are now even more ways to keep in touch with us at St Albans Museums. If you use Facebook, you can now become our fan! Find our fan page at the link below or search for St Albans Museums on Facebook

• Go to the St Albans Museums Facebook fan page  (this link will open in a new window)

We're always looking for new way to help keep you up to date with what we're up to and so as well as this blog you can now follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/stalbansmuseums (this link will open in a new window).

If you don't already have an account you will need to register, which is free.

We will be using Twitter as one of our ways to keep followers up to date with the latest new about our exhibitions and events, as well as anything new on this website.

Our new exhibition at the Museum of St Albans has just opened and will run until January 31st 2010. As always, entry to all exhibitions at the Museum of St Albans on Hatfield Road is free.

The exhibition is called Iraq - The Forgotten Story and features work by several Kurdish/Northern Iraqi artists. It has been curated by Ben Hodson & Ian Rowlands on behalf of A Thin Place, in partnership with the Preemptive Love Coalition. The gallery looks great and the exhibition has been really well recieved, judging by our exhibition comment book.

You can find out more about this exhibition and the project partners on our website .