Manchester Museum will be creating a permanent South Asia gallery in partnership with the British Museum, in a move supported by a £5m spending review commitment from chancellor George Osborne.
The gallery will be part of the museum’s new £11.5m capital expansion, which will also see the building of more space for temporary exhibitions, a new entrance and expanded public facilities.
The majority of the gallery’s content will come from the British Museum’s cultural collections, supplemented with pieces owned by Manchester Museum, and will feature objects spanning from the Indus Valley during the Neolithic Revolution to photographs from present day South Asia. Much of the content will be linked to Manchester’s history as a textile trading point with the region.
The director of Manchester Museum, Nick Merriman, said: “We have found through visitor research that only 2% of our visitors are South Asian, when they make up 11% of the population of the city of Manchester and 9% of Greater Manchester.
It’s an audience we haven’t addressed, so the South Asia gallery will be a great draw for local residents and tourists alike. We’re very happy that our partnership work with the British Museum, which has been developing for well over a decade, will be commemorated in the concrete form of a partnership gallery.”
Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, said: “We are delighted that the chancellor has recognised the important role that museums and galleries play in the life of the UK and to Britain’s role in the world.
"The South Asia gallery at Manchester Museum is the latest in a series of partnership galleries which the British Museum has undertaken with key UK partners. The [£5m grant] is a significant investment that will benefit local and national and global audiences alike.”
The gallery is due to be completed by early 2020.
The gallery will be part of the museum’s new £11.5m capital expansion, which will also see the building of more space for temporary exhibitions, a new entrance and expanded public facilities.
The majority of the gallery’s content will come from the British Museum’s cultural collections, supplemented with pieces owned by Manchester Museum, and will feature objects spanning from the Indus Valley during the Neolithic Revolution to photographs from present day South Asia. Much of the content will be linked to Manchester’s history as a textile trading point with the region.
The director of Manchester Museum, Nick Merriman, said: “We have found through visitor research that only 2% of our visitors are South Asian, when they make up 11% of the population of the city of Manchester and 9% of Greater Manchester.
It’s an audience we haven’t addressed, so the South Asia gallery will be a great draw for local residents and tourists alike. We’re very happy that our partnership work with the British Museum, which has been developing for well over a decade, will be commemorated in the concrete form of a partnership gallery.”
Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, said: “We are delighted that the chancellor has recognised the important role that museums and galleries play in the life of the UK and to Britain’s role in the world.
"The South Asia gallery at Manchester Museum is the latest in a series of partnership galleries which the British Museum has undertaken with key UK partners. The [£5m grant] is a significant investment that will benefit local and national and global audiences alike.”
The gallery is due to be completed by early 2020.
