Cultural collections to get building boost
One the Highland’s best-loved cultural attractions this week received a boost as The Highland Council awarded a £3.25 million pound contract to build a state-of-the-art new museum store and curatorial centre at the award winning Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore.
The building, which is to be built by Robertson, the Elgin based infrastructure, support services and construction group, will when completed in 2014 be home to the internationally significant Highland Folk Museum collection. The Folk Museum collection was the creation of pioneering social historian and folklorist Dr Isabel F Grant, who established her first museum in a disused church on Iona in 1935, naming it ‘Am Fasgadh’ (Gaelic for ‘The Shelter’). Am Fasgadh thereafter moved to domestic buildings Dr Grant purchased in Kingussie, where it was based for many years. The new museum store and curatorial centre will also be named ‘Am Fasgadh’.
The artefacts relate to past centuries of traditional life in the Highlands and Islands and are rich in items relating to farming, traditional skills and domestic life. The museum’s curatorial team will also be based in the new building, ensuring they are well placed to care for and promote the collection. Many items in the collection are the last of their kind in the world. The new store will be managed by High Life Highland, the charitable company established by The Highland Council to deliver cultural, learning, sport and leisure services on its behalf. Laurence Young, Interim Chair of High Life Highland said, “We are hugely looking forward to being able to better care for and promote the superb Highland collections in a state-of-the-art building. This excellent new facility will allow us to improve links with academic institutions and other interested groups and individuals, providing them with enhanced opportunities to engage with the collections”.
Bob Powell, Principal Museums Officer for High Life Highland, explained “Without Dr Grant’s superb vision in rescuing what were regarded as outmoded domestic and agricultural items, these things would have been lost to subsequent generations. Naming this new ‘shelter’ Am Fasgadh is in recognition of that vision and its importance. Although Dr Grant died in 1983, I am sure she would be delighted to know that, finally, the treasures she rescued will be housed in a purpose built facility that will provide perfect conditions for their conservation and promotion.”
Chairman of The Highland Council’s Adult and Children’s Services Committee, Councillor Alasdair Christie said: “ The Highland Council is delighted to be providing this superb new addition to the cultural infrastructure of the Highlands and we are pleased that it will allow future generations to continue to discover how the Highlands of the past shaped the Highlands of today.”
Frank Reid, Regional Managing Director, of Robertson said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Highland Council on this significant cultural project. The creation of this new building will help to document and maintain the rich heritage of the Highlands and Islands.”