THE ULSTER Museum in Belfast is on track to reopen in the autumn after additional money was raised to ensure the refurbishment work could be enhanced and expanded, according to Tim Cooke, chief executive of National Museums Northern Ireland.
The museum closed in October three years ago for a major makeover and is now scheduled to reopen this October, Mr Cooke said at the museum at the weekend, where reporters were brought on a tour of the refurbished building.
Regardless of the recession, Mr Cooke was able to say that in the past six months the museum secured an additional £2 million of funding, bringing the total investment in the work to £17.2 million.
“We have been able to enhance the original project and are now entering the final phase,” Mr Cooke said.
“The building is shaping up into a superb museum with dramatic public spaces and galleries of exceptional quality.
“I think visitors will be surprised and thrilled by the extent of the transformation.”
All the main structural works, which have increased gallery space by 10 per cent, are completed and the concentration now is on fitting out all the exhibition rooms.
The most striking element of the work is when visitors walk through the entrance into the new, huge and bright atrium.
There is an immediate sense of great space due to the 23m-high ceiling, and the glass and steel walkways leading to the history, art and science galleries at different levels.
Walls are painted a simple white in order to create a spacious minimalist effect, said Mr Cooke. A new restaurant has been created with a terrace leading out into the botanic gardens.
There will be four new learning zones and a new high-level gallery for the display of glass, ceramics, silver and jewellery.
A new art discovery zone supported by the Friends of the Ulster Museum also is being created as part of the suite of art galleries.
Old favourites that will have a special place in the galleries are the Egyptian mummy Takabuti, first brought to Belfast in 1835; the long canoe of the head-hunters of the Solomon islands; and the dinosaur collection.
Dan Harvey, chairman of the National Museums Northern Ireland board of trustees, said the reopened museum would play an enhanced role in education, tourism and community life.
“The new interior of the museum is visually stunning and we are delighted with the outcome.
“We are also developing a range of exhibitions and events which will prove attractive to both established and new users and look forward to welcoming more visitors than ever in the autumn,” Mr Harvey said.
