As the refurbishment of the Harris Museum moves forward currently 100,000+ collection objects have been removed from the building and are being placed into safe storage.
The Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library is being reimagined as part of the Harris Your Place Project. The Museum and Art Gallery will be closed until 2025 for the exciting Harris Your Place project. The Harris library services and IT services are still available for all in its new ‘home from home’ in the Guild Hall.
The Harris has been granted £4.5m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund which will allow for the Grade I listed building to be refurbished. The aim of this project is to protect the building and the architecture for future generations, improving the services for everyone and increasing accessibility. Positioning the Harris as a community and cultural hub for Preston and Lancashire.
As the refurbishment of the Harris Museum moves forward currently 100,000+ collection objects have been removed from the building and are being placed into safe storage. The Harris has been working with professional decant contractors, Restore Harrow Green to pack up and remove the collections. The Harris team have been spending the past six months preparing the collections for removal, including cleaning, wrapping, packing and cataloguing all the items with particular care.
Did you know? Before the paintings can be boxed up they all need to be checked and cleaned with special hoovers to remove all the dust? Each box or crate of collections is barcoded and checked out of the Harris and then checked in at the storage location. The Discover Preston Gallery collections and collections that form part of the building including the Gates of Paradise, the Roll of Honour and the Egyptian balcony paintings will remain on site during the works. Additional protection is being put into place to ensure these exceptional items remain in the same condition for when the Harris reopens in 2025.
The Harris Your Place project responds to the feedback from the local communities and when the Harris re opens we aim to attract an additional 100,000 visitors on top of the 350,000 visitors that we already attract, creating a quality cultural attraction for Preston and Lancashire. There will be new flexible spaces for school visits, workshops, art and books. The Unique café will display elements of the beautiful ceramics and glass and the shop will sell items inspired by the Harris collections created by local artists and gifts that you can’t find elsewhere. The displays in the community gallery and throughout the building will also interchange on a regular basis.
Keep up to date with the Harris Your Place Project over on our social media.
Written by The Harris Museum
Harris Your Place
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