Thirteen new high quality showcases have been delivered to the Galway City Museum, and will be used to display valuable and delicate artefacts.
The cases will occupy the ground floor of the museum and are specially built to hold artefacts relating to prehistoric and medieval Galway, which are coming on loan from the National Museum of Ireland.
Among the objects earmarked for these showcases are prehistoric flint, axeheads, and swords excavated from the River Corrib in the early 1980s ,and mediaeval wine bottles, glass, and other objects excavated in the city centre in the 1980s and 1990s.
The showcases conform to stringent standards for the storage and presentation of artefacts. They are securely alarmed and the climate within the case can be controlled to suit the object being stored.
The showcases, from specialist British company Click Netherfield, have been acquired on foot of a grant received from the Department of Arts.
City manager Joe O’Neill has welcomed the arrival of the cases as “yet another major step in the museum’s redevelopment programme”.
“These showcases will help to transform the museum, and bring Galway’s prehistoric and medieval past alive,” he said. “The redevelopment of the museum will be a major boost to Galway – something which is extremely welcome at this time.”
The Galway City Museum has set up a special blog for the public to track ‘behind the scenes’ developments over the next few weeks: www.makinghistorygalway.blogspot.com
