Cork city is growing and Crawford Art Gallery is growing too.
An exciting multi-million euro redevelopment, Transforming Crawford Art Gallery, has been approved by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
The project was designed by an interdisciplinary team led by the award-winning Grafton Architects and will be delivered by the Office of Public Works and Crawford Art Gallery as part of Project Ireland 2040.
Crawford Art Gallery is one of Ireland’s National Cultural Institutions and home to over 3,500 artworks from the National Collection. There are already three centuries of history in its unique city centre buildings, starting with the Customs House wing which was built in 1724.
The ambitious redevelopment - Transforming Crawford Art Gallery - is as much about conservation and protecting the legacy of the existing building for generations to come as it is about creating exciting new cultural spaces.
View of Emmet Place. Image: Pedersen Focus.
Transforming Crawford Art Gallery will mean:
A 50% increase in overall space
A 32m new-build extension to the rear of the building
A new top floor gallery with views of iconic Cork landmarks.
A main entrance reoriented onto Emmet Place, the historic Customs House entrance.
A new landscaped garden to the front of building.
Two floors of state-of-the art secure storage for the collection.
A new Learn & Explore facility for delivering classes, workshops and other outreach programmes.
New toilets on many floors and accessible changing facilities.
A new restaurant opening onto Half Moon Street.
A large new lift for enhanced accessibility.
More temperature and light level controls and “Low to Zero Carbon Technologies” (LZC) to decarbonise the building.
Vital conservation works to the building and in particular to the front façade of the building, the iconic Sculpture Gallery, the woodwork, stairways and external railings.
View from Patrick's Bridge. Image: Pedersen Focus.
Crawford Art Gallery closes to the public in autumn 2024, to facilitate the two and a half year redevelopment.
The entire collection is being carefully moved to secure offsite storage, with each artwork undergoing meticulous condition checks and wrapping to ensure the utmost care for the treasured artworks. Expert conservators will continue to work on care of the collection during the public closure period.
It is currently anticipated that the gallery will reopen in 2027.
For regular updates on the project throughout the public closure period, please sign up to our newsletter or follow our social media channels.
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