The People’s Palace museum in Glasgow is due to close this spring for a major refurbishment to create a greener, world-class, local museum.
People’s Palace will close of 14 April, as confirmed by Glasgow Life, the charity that runs the Scottish city’s cultural attractions. The organisation is encouraging people to visit the museum before then.
The People’s Palace refurbishment received £850,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund earlier this year, which means the first stage of the project can begin.
Bailie Annette Christie, chair of Glasgow Life, said the redevelopment will “create a dynamic community-led museum and flexible space, which will foster new ways to promote inclusion, access, and participation, and minimise its impact on the environment”.
“With spring on the horizon and the school holidays only a few weeks away, I would encourage as many people as possible to grab this last chance to see the palace before we close the doors and continue to work with local communities on this exciting transformation,” she added.
The People’s Palace building and Winter Gardens glasshouse will be completely restored, with the renovations expected to cost more than £35 million.
Greener, world-class, local museum
The first development phase will take around 16 months. Glasgow Life will transform the space and displays to make the building more accessible for all, and will work with local people to develop the main stories for the new museum.
Operational services and the fabric of the building will be refurbished in the redevelopment. Also, the project will improve the site’s environmental sustainability.
Work is set to start with the transfer of the People’s Palace collection to publicly accessible Glasgow Museum stores.
In more news, experts from the University of Glasgow in Scotland are testing an AI-powered robot guide dog to help blind and partially sighted visitors find their way around museums and other indoor spaces.
Images courtesy of Glasgow Life
