Scotland’s oldest public museum has received a funding boost with a £249,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Hunterian at the University of Glasgow will now be able to carry out a scoping project that will shape the future of its museum and art gallery.
The Hunterian Museum has been open to the public since 1870, while the art gallery was constructed between 1973 and 1981.
The funding will now allow The Hunterian to identify what is required to revitalise its ageing buildings, which are significant parts of Glasgow’s heritage.
The Hunterian is Scotland’s oldest public museum and has provided an invaluable academic and community resource and is committed to become a more meaningful place for more diverse audiences.
It will now look to safeguard its important collections and serve the needs of the community as part of a project entitled ‘Unlocking the Potential of The Hunterian: The Changing Museum’, which will enable it to create ac lear plan and set of activities to understand what is needed to achieve transformational change.
A survey of the buildings will also be carried out and funded by the University of Glasgow and will consider what happens inside the venues.
It will play a central role in defining what The Hunterian will be for the next generation through a programme of survey work, consultation, collaboration and co-production.
Caroline Clark, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland, said: "We are very pleased that thanks to National Lottery players we are able to support this important project and invest in the future of The Hunterian collections and Scotland's oldest public museum.
“Generations of visitors and researchers have enjoyed and learned from The Hunterian collections and this project will help to ensure they continue to provide an important and relevant resource."
READ MORE
-
MSPs told 'significant resources' needed for slavery museum amid slow progress
-
Edinburgh museum to reopen after outcry over temporary closure
-
'Utterly unique' Bronze Age hoard found in Scotland saved for the nation
Steph Scholten, Director of The Hunterian said: “We are delighted to receive this funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to undertake this crucial foundational work. When our vision is realised, our collections will be protected, displayed in revitalised, sustainable venues and will meet the needs of all of our visitors.
“We will work with our communities to give them a central role in shaping the future of The Hunterian, creating spaces where people can think critically, and can come together to both challenge and find common ground.”
Completion of the project will allow The Hunterian to develop a future bid to fund the redevelopment work necessary to conserve and upgrade the buildings.
‘Unlocking the Potential of The Hunterian: The Changing Museum’ will run throughout 2025, and the findings will be made available in Spring 2026.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here