With building work complete and the museum fit out continuing, 21st June has been announced as the opening date for the new Riverside Museum.
Glasgow's £74million new attraction, the Riverside Museum, will
be opened by Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson in exactly
three months' time. The new home for Glasgow's collection of
transport and technology will open at 10am on Tuesday, June 21,
2011. The Tall Ship Glenlee which will be berthed alongside the
museum will also open to the public on the same day.
The Zaha Hadid-designed museum will be home to around 3,000
exhibits in around 150 displays. It is the third home for the
transport museum since Glasgow first opened it in the1960s.
Riverside Museum is the first purpose-built transport museum in
Glasgow and is the first major museum Glasgow has built since The
Burrell Collection opened in 1983.
The former Museum of Transport at the Kelvin Hall closed in April
2010 to allow the move of objects to the Riverside Museum. The
Museum of Transport was one of the most popular visitor attractions
in the city with nearly 500,000 visitors per year.
Councillor Gordon Matheson said: "Glasgow's position as Scotland's
cultural powerhouse can only be enhanced by the opening of the
Riverside Museum. Zaha Hadid's breathtaking design has already been
transformed into an iconic building that will bring visitors to the
city from all over the world. That vision and ambition is being
matched inside the building and we are counting down the days until
the museum opens to the public."
Glasgow City Council has spent £50.9million on the Riverside Museum
project which also received £18.1million from the Heritage Lottery
Fund. The remainder of the funds for the project come from
donations to the Riverside Museum Appeal. It has already raised
£4.1million of its £5million target despite the worst downturn in
living memory.
Euan Jamieson of Clydeport said: "We are delighted to see the
museum opening. The building looks great and will be a huge
attraction for Glasgow. The adjoining site will shortly have the
plans published for retail and leisure which will add to the
overall attraction and provide a direct link from the museum to
Partick interchange over a new bridge at the Kelvin."