Paisley Museum Re-imagined
Paisley Museum is being transformed into a world-class attraction housing the town's outstanding collections and bringing to the life the stories of its people, pattern, and much more
The world-class museum refurbishment is the flagship project in the regeneration of Paisley and Scotland’s biggest cultural heritage capital development. Home to objects and stories, an observatory, heritage centre, learning spaces, public gardens, cafe, events, and more, the reimagined museum will be at the heart of the local community – and open for everyone to learn, discover, create and connect.
The new museum will be a vibrant and accessible cultural hub providing welcoming facilities to the community whilst attracting visitors to Paisley from across Scotland and beyond.
The building was redesigned by world-renowned architects AL_A - whose recent landmark projects include the London V&A museum's stunning extension and Lisbon's amazing MAAT Institution.
AL_A's founder - Stirling Prize winner Amanda Levete - described the Paisley Museum Reimagined project as "one of the most radical briefs I have read....this is not only about finding the way to best show the museum's collection, it's also about showing the world how an ambitious cultural project can have a profound impact on a community and its identity."
Working with the Community
The project team have worked with local groups and hundreds of local people to capture and help tell their stories.
The Paisley Museum Re-Imagined team have been working with local and international groups and individuals to create museum displays, as well as public and school programmes. Partner groups have been making meaningful decisions including choosing objects to display and stories to tell and co-producing interpretation including text, games and films that will appear in the museum. The team have also been working with local groups from Kairos Women+ to Jambo Radio, and with individuals with specific memories or insights, as well as young people including from the YMCA, Project Search employability programme and local schools.
The project team has also been working with a Community Learning ESOL (English for Speakers of Other languages) group to reinterpret Paisley Museum’s Syrian Glass collection, which is thousands of years old. With the support of media co-op, the group used professional equipment to create a film about the glass that will feature prominently in the new museum and worked together to co-produce the text and graphics for the display in Arabic and English.
Conserving the Collection
The Paisley Museum Re-Imagined team have so far worked with 14 specialist conservators or conservation studios from across the UK to help conserve objects in the Museum collection ahead of display. They’ve worked with specialists to help clean, repair and preserve over 785 objects so far, working with experts in the conservation of books, furniture, paintings, paper, textiles and sculpture among others. The work will prepare the objects for display when the museum reopens, and preserve it for future generations.
Further information
More information about the project can be found on the Paisley Museum Re-Imagined fundraising website and on Renfrewshire Council's webpage.
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