Cork’s Crawford Art Gallery has announced it will close its doors to the public on the evening of Sunday, September 22nd, ahead of a major redevelopment project.
Crawford Art Gallery director Mary McCarthy confirmed the closure date, which will allow for an ambitious multi-million euro redevelopment on the Crawford site.
The capital project, Transforming Crawford Art Gallery, is set to add 50 per cent more space for exhibitions, new state-of-the-art storage for its collection and a new Learn & Explore facility for educational programmes.
A new restaurant will also be created, facing onto Half Moon Street, with the original historic Customs House entrance on Emmet Place restored, complete with new landscaping.
A new public gallery on the top floor of a five-storey extension will offer a birds-eye view of Cork city landmarks, with improved accessibility, lifts and toilet facilities over several floors.
A tender process is currently underway for the building and renovation works which will see a contractor appointed and on site in the spring of 2025. The redevelopment works are estimated to take two and a half years to complete.
Staff will continue working in the building following the public closure, throughout the autumn and winter of 2024, to safely remove the gallery’s treasured collection, which will in part be housed in secure storage facilities off-site for the duration of the redevelopment.
Works from the Crawford collection will also be on loan to other galleries and museums all over Ireland, including Doneraile Court, Cork Public Museum, Hillsborough Castle, The National Museum of Ireland, the Hugh Lane Gallery, Uillinn West Cork Arts and more.