Museum reopening weekend celebrations
15 Apr 09
The Pitt Rivers Museum is gearing up for its reopening on May 1 2009 at 10am after a ten month closure for refurbishment.
The entrance to the museum has had major remodelling work carried out, as well as improvements to its education facilities and its environment.
From the doorway visitors will be immediately impressed by the restored view, with the maze of cases spread out before them and dramatic sight at the far end of the totem pole from Canada’s northwest coast.
The changes allow visitors to appreciate afresh the significance of this extraordinary collection.In addition there are eight new case displays focusing on art and decorative techniques, including three new cases on Australian Aboriginal art.
In the course of the project more than 5000 objects have been removed, condition-checked and returned to display. The full-size outrigger canoe has been suspended from the roof, and a new learning space created on the balcony, now known as The Clore Learning Balcony.
The Bank Holiday weekend will see a number of free activities to celebrate the re-opening. On Friday May 1 visitors are encouraged to come along after work to a special extended opening until 7pm, with live traditional music and a chance to chat to staff and find out about the changes that have been made.
For families the popular Saturday afternoon Pitt Stop activities will be re-launched on Saturday May 2, the new ‘back pack’ of family activities on May 3, and the Mouse trail, much loved by visitors young and old, on May 4.
For other visitors there is a selection of free gallery talks covering the new displays, the Museum’s history, tools and metalworking, as well as insiders’ tours of ‘favourite things’ led by the Friends of the Museum.
The £1.5m redevelopment has been supported by an award of £1m from The Heritage Lottery Fund and by generous contributions from DCMS/Wolfson Foundation’s Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund, The Clore Duffield Foundation, The Monument Trust and from other public and private benefactors.
New exhibitions at the Museum include Across the Caucasus, which will run from May 1 until September 6. This will be a glass display showing photographs and manuscripts from John f Baddeley who became the St Petersburg correspondent for the Evening Standard after visiting Russia in 1879.
Carolyn Drake: Photographs of Central Asia will run from May 14 until November 15 and includes photographs from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Istanbul-based photographer.