The Museum is Temporarily Closed...


The Museum is temporarily closed...

We are temporarily closed at the moment. Last time we closed was to move the Museum from Queen Mary's Tower in the Inner Ward to the recently vacated Alma Block, in the Outer Ward. With the award of Heritage Lottery Funding the ambitious re-location project took plenty of dedication from both the staff and Trustees to move the Museum within the Castle.

But move it did (as the Museum had previously done in its past) and once display cases went in, the laborious task of installing objects and labels began. As I was trawling through my files this    afternoon I came across some of the photographs which documented the move. Obviously I can't miss an opportunity to provide another mannequin photo either! I remembered the laughs we had as we dressed them, followed by attempts to put them into their final locations. But the hard work and dedication paid off and the Museum was officially opened by Princess Alexandra in July 2015.

Closing the Museum in 2014 was a difficult decision and we had hoped to keep it open as long as possible before we moved from one building to another. Closing the Museum in March 2020 was also difficult but we have a duty to our staff, volunteers and visitors. I did the security check on the building yesterday, and walking around the gallery it seemed odd and eerily quiet. The objects and mannequins on display to a non-existent public, no gallery soundtrack, no cafe, no telephone calls. The objects on 'open storage' in their display cases waiting to be seen, with the stories still there waiting to be told. As unusual as it is for us to be temporarily closed, we will be back. And when we are we look forward to welcoming our visitors back through the door.


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