THE CITY’S flagship museum will close for 11 days next month to allow essential maintenance works to take place, before plans for a major refurbishment get under way.
Leicester Museum & Art Gallery on New Walk will be closed to the public from Thursday 5 September until Sunday 15 September inclusive, while new fire curtains are installed and other maintenance works carried out.
The museum will reopen on Monday 16 September, but access will be limited to the Dinosaur Gallery and the Leicester Stories Gallery until Saturday 21 September, while new temporary exhibitions are installed on the first floor.
These initial works will pave the way for the start of a major refurbishment that – subject to planning permission – will create a new suite of art galleries on the museum’s ground floor, as well as a new shop, an improved reception area and a new café with an entrance from New Walk.
The ground floor art galleries – including the Victorian Art Gallery and galleries currently hosting the Attenborough Collection of Picasso Ceramics and National Treasures: Renoir in Leicester – will close to the public at 5pm on Sunday 1 September. Museum staff will then begin the huge task of carefully emptying the galleries and putting the collections safely into storage, before contractors move in to start the planned refurbishment.
Assistant city mayor Cllr Vi Dempster said: “Programming major works at a popular visitor attraction is never easy, but we hope to keep as much of the museum open to the public as we can, while we update and remodel our flagship site.
“Once planning permission is in place, and work gets under way, there will be times when we need to close galleries and restrict public access to parts of the museum, so my advice would be to check the website for the latest information, to avoid any disappointment if you’re planning a visit.
“Our plans for Leicester Museum are exciting, with brand new galleries showcasing Leicester’s world class art collection on the ground floor, improved interpretation, and much more interactive content.
“There will also be an attractive new café, with outdoor seating on New Walk, as well as much-improved routes around the museum.
“So there’s a lot going on, and a lot to look forward to, and I hope people will bear with us as we carry out this ambitious refurbishment.”
Subject to planning permission, the new café space will be created at the front of the museum, with a new entrance from New Walk that will allow the café to stay open when the rest of the museum is closed.
An original glass roof and feature columns, currently hidden within exhibition space, will be revealed in the new scheme, creating a light and airy space for café customers to enjoy.
Two planning applications, covering the proposed works and the required listed building consent, are expected to be determined in September.
The revamped art galleries are due to open to the public in late 2025.
Leicester Museum & Art Gallery opened in 1849 as one of the UK’s first public museums and today attracts more than 250,000 visitors each year – making it one of the most popular free attractions in the East Midlands.
Reconfiguring the layout and upgrading the gallery spaces will help it reach a new target of 300,000 visitors each year.
The £7.9m refurbishment of Leicester Museum & Art Gallery is supported by £766,000 from Arts Council England’s Museum Estate and Development Fund.
Leicester Museums and Galleries is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.
More information about what’s on at Leicester Museum is available at leicestermuseums.org