The Charles Dickens Museum has said that closing for eight months this year, during the 200th anniversary of the author’s birth, “is not ideal”.
The London museum, Dickens’ former home, will close for refurbishment from 9 April until December.
“It is a decision that has not been taken lightly,” said a statement on the museum’s website, which stressed that the venue would open in time to celebrate a “Dickensian Christmas in the novelist’s bicentenary year”.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded the museum £2.4m towards the £3m Great Expectations redevelopment project.
Museum director Florian Schweizer said: “Our fund-raising campaign continues, so that we can fully match the HLF grant for further museum improvements.”
A new visitor centre and climate-controlled spaces for the National Dickens Library and Archives will open in the property adjacent to the museum. Storage and display space in the museum’s existing building will also increase substantially.
The collection will be shown in libraries, archives and museums across the country during the closure.
Click here to read the Dickens feature in this month's MJ
The London museum, Dickens’ former home, will close for refurbishment from 9 April until December.
“It is a decision that has not been taken lightly,” said a statement on the museum’s website, which stressed that the venue would open in time to celebrate a “Dickensian Christmas in the novelist’s bicentenary year”.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded the museum £2.4m towards the £3m Great Expectations redevelopment project.
Museum director Florian Schweizer said: “Our fund-raising campaign continues, so that we can fully match the HLF grant for further museum improvements.”
A new visitor centre and climate-controlled spaces for the National Dickens Library and Archives will open in the property adjacent to the museum. Storage and display space in the museum’s existing building will also increase substantially.
The collection will be shown in libraries, archives and museums across the country during the closure.
Click here to read the Dickens feature in this month's MJ