Paisley Museum to open after £45m transformation

Paisley Museum & Art Gallery in Scotland is set to reopen in 2024 with a new public courtyard, a 26% increase in gallery space, hundreds more objects on display and new learning, community-making and social spaces.

The ambitious transformation seeks to create a museum that “will celebrate Paisley’s history and impact on the world”, as well as creating a community space that’s open and accessible to all.

The £45m refurbishment is funded by Renfrewshire Council, the Scottish Government, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic Environment Scotland, as well as donations from a fundraising campaign.

The museum’s displays will celebrate the area’s industrial past and the town’s importance in textiles, weaving and the famous Paisley pattern.

Collection specialists and content producers from charity One Ren have worked with local organisations to expand the museum’s core collection, which will be shown in over 100 story displays containing 1,290 objects. The museum will also feature 60 digital displays.

Among other topics, exhibits will focus on the Egyptian collection, artists like John Byrne, some of Paisley’s local influential families and stories of Pringle and Paisley during the war years.

The museum will also use some of its artefacts to interrogate the town’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism.

Kirsty Devine, project director for Paisley Museum Reimagined at One Ren, which is in charge of curating the museum’s collections, said the charity has worked with more than 70 local organisations to bring the collection to life.

“We’re delivering Scotland’s biggest cultural heritage project and our ambition is to create a world-class museum space,” she said.

“We can’t do that alone though and we have been working with a wide range of communities – locally and globally – over the past six years to help reimagine and redefine the museum and our collections.”

In addition to the new museum facilities and exhibits, Coats Observatory, the oldest public observatory in Scotland, will be opened to the public. It will be connected to the museum via a new observatory garden with ramps providing step-free access between the two venues.