We’re going on tour!
The museum is going on tour for two months this winter, as the building itself closes for major work to take place.
This winter, our regular seasonal closure is being extended by a month to allow gallery spaces on the ground floor and balcony to be modernised and reimagined afresh, ushering in a new phase of the museum’s long history.
This phase of the project to transform the museum has received £2.3m from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is being managed locally by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme.
This means that in January and February, the museum team and items from our collections will be on the road, while the physical space is undergoing an exciting refresh ready to reopen in early Spring 2025.
Our Learning Team have joined up with the local library service. They’ll be aboard the Education Library Service Bus, and delivering our Ancient Egypt and Victorian Toys workshops in eight libraries across the county, enabling us to reach more school children in a short space of time than ever before.
Meanwhile, the museum’s Engagement Team have created a workshop called Treasure, which they will be running in collaboration with wellbeing groups across Cornwall during January and February.
The workshop includes handling museum artefacts and will look at themes of Cornish identity and language, arts and folk tales, landscape and sense of place.
Participants will be encouraged to discuss what they consider to be their own treasures and create a collaborative artwork – a wall hanging – which will be displayed here at the museum when it reopens.
One of our current exhibitions – As Above, So Below by Jill Randall – is also going on the road and will be at Wheal Martyn Clay Works between 13th January and 13th February.
The winter building work represents a major step forward in our Transformation Project, which began with the Mineral Gallery last summer.
Preparatory work for the next phase has been taking place all autumn, but this planned winter closure will allow the major work to forge ahead safely and efficiently.
The Nature Gallery is being redesigned in consultation with Cornwall Wildlife Trust, creating a spellbinding window onto Cornwall’s wildlife and biodiversity riches. The new Nature Gallery will also encourage museumgoers to learn from the past in striving for a brighter, more considerate future.
The balcony will become an art gallery, allowing much more of the Royal Institution of Cornwall’s impressive art collection to go on public display.
Finally, the central space in the museum will become the Heart of Cornwall Gallery, a space where Cornish culture and history will be explored and celebrated, from the Cornish language to maritime industries, mining heritage to local folklore.
We’re already looking forward to welcoming people back into our new-look physical spaces in the spring, with an exciting exhibition and events programme planned. In the meantime, we’re taking the opportunity to get out into the community as much as possible and engage diverse and geographically remote audiences with what the museum has to offer.
If you have any questions about the planned closure and our activities in the community, please email [email protected]. For updates on the transformation and reopening information, follow us on social media.