Swindon museum to reopen on temporary site

Councillor Matty Courtliff said: "This will be as good as any purpose-built gallery and museum"

Plans for the new museum and art gallery have been revealed in a public session.

The temporary gallery space in former civic offices on Euclid Street will feature a series of galleries on the history of Swindon, stretching back to the beginning of time.

The new museum is expected to open in the spring of 2023, The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

The former museum at Apsley House has been closed since the pandemic.

Councillor Matty Courtliff, Swindon's cabinet member for culture, heritage and leisure, said: "The gallery will be as good as any purpose-built space in the country."

He and the council's museums manager Frances Yeo led the sessions for councillors, teachers and the public explaining how the upper floor of the listed civic-office building would be used to store and exhibit the collection of art and artefacts.

The open square of the upper floor would host large galleries used for different displays of the art in the Swindon Collection, Mr Courtliff said.

Although these spaces are a temporary solution between the closing of Apsley House and the building of a new art pavilion in the cultural quarter, Mr Courtliff said a lot of care and attention had be paid to how the collection would be displayed.

He said: "It's not just that we've got some rooms and well put the collection in there.

"We've had the curators and specialists in. There will be proper lighting and ventilation and the display cabinets have the right UV filters to protect the displays."

The council has been given permission for a change of use for the upper floors of the building, but is awaiting permission to remove some internal walls.

Mr Courtliff said: "Those are non-original partitions and I'm confident we'll get the go-ahead soon."