Re-opening of Inverness Museum and Art Gallery following major facelift
Inverness Museum and Art Gallery opens again on Saturday 13 January with major improvements, to celebrate Highland 2007, the year Scotland celebrates Highland culture. The galleries have been completely redesigned, to tell the story of the Highlands and present the museum’s magnificent collections in a new and fresh way. The building looks different from the outside, with a smart green-glazed extension to house a new passenger lift, giving additional access to all the displays and facilities. Stunning new graphics on the Castle Wynd approach advertise the museum’s presence.
Inside the museum, the permanent displays start on the ground floor, with the unique collection of Pictish art, and Highland wildlife and geology, all completely redesigned and redisplayed. Upstairs, the Jacobites feature strongly, along with the more recent history of Inverness and the Highlands. There are plenty of things for visitors to play, try and do – such as try on a plaid, play the game of merrels, hear the clarsach, pipes, fiddle and rondello, or Gaelic words and phrases.
The Art Gallery has been re-floored, redecorated, and redesigned to help the visitor flow. It will again be used for temporary exhibitions, with an ever-changing programme, so there will always be something different to see. The first of these exhibitions is ‘Fonn’s Duthchas: Land and Legacy’, a look at the Highlands and Islands today, using iconic objects from the collections of three national institutions, the National Museums of Scotland, National Libraries of Scotland and National Galleries of Scotland. Future exhibitions include ‘Anatomy Acts’ from the Royal College of Surgeons, and ‘Energy: Portraits of North Sea Oil’ by Fionna Carlisle. There are spaces for community groups to put on their own exhibitions.
There is also a completely new cafe, which will serve coffees, teas and snacks, specialising where possible in fairtrade products. Opening hours will be 10 - 4 Mondays to Saturdays. The catering services will be run by the Council’s Education Culture and Sport Catering Services.
The toilet facilities and museum shop are also relocated and modernised. The popular Discovery Centre has been retained, but relocated, and is combined with a space for talks and events.
Museum Curator Catharine Niven said: “Our visitors can now have an experience to remember, with the museum’s magnificent collections displayed in a bright new environment which is both comfortable and welcoming.”
To allow the refurbishment to take place, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery was closed for six months, from July 2006 – a very short timescale for such a radical improvement. The cost of the project is £1.3 million. The main contractors are Haley Sharpe Design Ltd, of Leicester, for all the galleries, café, shop and facilities, and McGregor Construction (Highlands) Ltd, for the new extension and lift.
Inverness Museum and Art Gallery is open from Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is free.
Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, Castle Wynd, Inverness IV2 3EB. Tel 01463 237114.