Jem Fraser looks at how the National Museum of Scotland is set to benefit from one of the largest awards for a capital project in the country to date.
This autumn, a major phase of a £46.4m refurbishment project starts at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS). The Royal Museum Project will transform the Victorian part of the Museum, located in Edinburghs city centre, into a flagship visitor attraction. When complete in 2011, the site will epitomise our mission to inform, educate and inspire, showcasing Scotlands collections to a national and international audience, raising the nations cultural profile, and reflecting the confidence of modern Scotland.
Opened in 1866 as the Edinburgh Industrial Museum, the Royal Museum was Scotlands first national public museum. The current project will breathe new life into this beautiful category A listed building, with treasures that have been stored away for years being brought out for display. The NMS has already secured public funding of £17.8m from the Heritage Lottery Fund one of the largest awards for a capital project in Scotland to date and £16m from the Scottish Government, and is also working with individuals, trusts, foundations and the corporate sector to secure the remaining funds to complete this ambitious and important project. Chief amongst the changes will be a new, fully accessible street-level entrance; new exhibition space; a redeveloped learning centre and schools facilities; new interpretation and orientation for visitors; and new social spaces with larger eating, shopping and cloakroom facilities. The design of the galleries and the interior as a whole has been informed by in-depth research into the visitor experience.
The main hall of the Museum is an Edinburgh landmark and will be enhanced rather than changed significantly. It is a very grand, yet also very welcoming, social space and the Project will see it returned to its original role, as a Grand Gallery. A menu wall of visually striking objects will act as an index to reveal the range of exhibitions throughout the building. Glass lifts and an escalator will encourage visitors to explore the upper floors and different types of interpretation will be used to engage different groups.
The project will require part of the Royal Museum building to close from May 2008 until the reopening in 2011, with a programme of exhibitions, events, workshops and activities continuing throughout the construction phase. In particular, a special exhibition of treasures from the collections will give visitors a glimpse of what they will see in the refurbished Royal Museum building, with a series of celebratory events marking the tenth anniversary of the Museum of Scotland. To enable the Royal Museum Project to be realised, we are also making significant improvements to the National Museums Collection Centre. By the end of 2008, more than two million objects will have been transferred to this centre, with the development of that site contributing to a wider regeneration drive for the deprived Edinburgh waterfront area. A new storage facility, along with the new Reception and Conservation Centre, will help secure the NMSs reputation for excellence.
The Royal Museum Project will create the largest cultural museum complex outside London, opening up the priceless international treasures of National Museums Scotland and the stories they tell, for all our audiences, today and tomorrow.
Jem Fraser is Director of the Royal Museum Project, National Museums Scotland
t: 0131 247 4422;
e: j.fraser@nms.ac.uk;
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