City museum to get major makeover
By Kernan Andrews
The Galway City Museum will be getting a floor-by-floor makeover of all its exhibition spaces, in advance of a major loan of artefacts from the National Museum of Ireland.
The museum will close to the public from this Saturday to allow for the redevelopment works and will re-open in early June to showcase a major exhibition on Galway from prehistoric to modern times.
The works are being undertaken to prepare the museum for a major loan of prehistoric and medieval artefacts from the National Museum of Ireland.
The forthcoming exhibition programme will include two signature exhibitions on the ground floor. These exhibitions consist of a prehistoric exhibition based on Galway collections provided by the National Museum, as well as a new medieval exhibition which is the result of the Galway Excavations Project, which took place in the 1980s and 1990s.
The museum will also be developing the first phase of its People’s History of Galway Project which will feature a new Pádraic Ó Conaire exhibition. The project is the result of a nationwide call-out for people’s personal photos and stories relating to the famous statue and has enjoyed a response from hundreds of people.
The rest of the People’s History of Galway will be rolled out throughout the year and will feature exhibitions on popular culture, including cinema in Galway, ‘Dancehall Days’, maritime Galway, and immigration/emigration to and from Galway.
A new temporary exhibition programme will feature a major exhibition of the work of Charles Lamb, one of Ireland’s best-known landscape painters, and a resident of Connemara for most of his adult life. This exhibition will be part of the Galway Arts Festival.
The news of the redevelopment and upcoming exhibitions has been welcomed by Labour councillor Niall McNelis.
“The museum is a key part of how Galway can keep visitors in the city,” he said. “The fact the national museum has decided that Galway is able to exhibit artefacts, that were up until now housed in Dublin, gives the museum the credibility it deserves. I am especially delighted to hear about the announcement of the Charles Lambe exhibition.”