We did it! The moment Pallant House staff heard they'd won the biggest prize in the UK museum world © Jon Pratty/24 Hour Museum

Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, home to one of the UK’s finest collections of modern British art, has won the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries.

The Prize is given annually to one museum or gallery anywhere in the UK for excellence and innovation, regardless of its size or budget and Pallant beat off competition from a shortlist including Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Kew Palace in Richmond and Weston Park Museum in Sheffield.

The Gallery was awarded the coveted Prize for its £8.6m modern gallery extension, designed by Long and Kentish in association with Professor Sir Colin St John Wilson, the collector who donated his impressive collection of modern British art to the gallery and who died only two weeks ago.

Gulbenkian judges were won over by the flair and sensitivity with which the new building has been integrated with the original Queen Anne House, resulting in a vibrant relationship between old and new, a theme continued in a series of inspired contemporary installations.

Happy Pallant House staff and friends take a bow at the Gulbenkian Museum Prize awards © Jon Pratty/24 Hour Museum

“Each of the four short-listed museums and galleries was vivid and exciting; our decision came only after impassioned, sometimes agonised, debate,” said Francine Stock, the Chair of the judges. “We’re delighted finally to award this Prize to a jewel of a gallery.”

They particularly commended the approach to presenting what it described as a ‘collection of collections’ – 90% of which is now on display – to reflect the passion of the individual collectors whose successive gifts have enriched the Gallery’s holdings.

Within the new extension visitors are treated to one of the best collections of 20th century British art in the UK. Works by artists ranging from Peter Blake, David Bomberg and Patrick Caulfield to Ben Nicholson, John Piper, Walter Sickert and Graham Sutherland are sympathetically displayed.

Pallant House Director Stefan van Raay during the Gallery re-fit in 2006. © Pallant House Gallery

The judges found the displays, whether in the original Queen Anne historic house, or the beautifully lit galleries of the new extension, both aesthetically and intellectually satisfying, and the whole experience ‘spirit-lifting’.

“The brilliance of Pallant House Gallery lies not only in its thoughtful and intelligent curation but in the warmth and welcome of the building,” added Stock. “There’s nothing elitist about the way this fine collection is displayed – intimate yet with space for reflection and tranquillity.”

The final decision of the judges is in marked contrast to the readers of 24 Hour Museum who, in an unofficial reader’s poll, voted overwhelmingly for Kelvingrove Art Gallery.

Ahead of the official announcement, our readers voted in droves for the much-loved Glasgow venue. Out of a total of 4,378 votes cast via email, Kelvingrove was the clear winner with 1,964 votes reflecting the popularity of the recent £35m redevelopment of the site.

Richard Hamilton, Swingeing London ’67 (1967-68). Courtesy Pallant House Gallery

However it was Pallant’s comparatively modest but wholly sympathetic £8.6m building project, which also included an emissions cutting geothermal heating and cooling system, that finally swayed the judging panel.

As well as the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize, the Gallery was also presented with a silver enamelled bowl designed by award-winning metal artist, Vladimir Böhm, which they will hold for a year.

The Pallant House Gallery trustees plan to put the prize money into their endowment fund, which they are aiming to grow to the stage where they will have sufficient core funding to offer free entry to the Gallery.