York Castle Museum

Plans

We have exciting plans for the next five years (2008 - 2013) and have drawn up a series of projects, both using our own resources and with support from City of York Council, Yorkshire Forward, Heritage Lottery Funding, Arts Council England, trusts and foundations and local businesses. Please get in touch if you would like to help us.

Yorkshire Museum and Gardens

Work has started on refurbishing the Hospitium in the Museum Gardens as the Trust’s conference centre. This listed building is already used for hospitality, conferences, weddings and meetings, but the work means it will be accessible to all. It involves the installation of a new lift, the relocation of the staircase, the creation of new toilets and a new catering area.

The Hospitium is the first stage of the St Mary’s Abbey Precinct project which covers the area around the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey. Plans include refurbishing the Yorkshire Museum with new displays and better visitor facilities, and opening up the gardens through to York Art Gallery. The project also aims to highlight the gardens as a botanical garden for the city.

The development of St Mary’s Abbey as a destination in its own right is a long-term ambition of the Trust and is a central part of wider ambitions of the city to create a cultural quarter.

York Art Gallery

In the short term, we are refurbishing the South Gallery at York Art Gallery to re-open in Spring 2008 with improved displays, lighting and roofing.

In the longer term, we hope to develop York Art Gallery by creating a contemporary mezzanine gallery above the main gallery and a new galleries in an area currently used for storage.

York Castle Museum

Our plans for York Castle Museum start in 2008 with an exciting programme of new initiatives to celebrate the museum’s 70th birthday.

These include a new Sixties gallery, three new activity spaces themed around cookery, fashion and armour/weaponry, and an exhibition on China.

We also plan to improve access to Kirkgate with a new ramp.

In the longer term, we would like to improve the Exercise Yard to provide a space for families to pause in their tour around the museum and create an 18th Century Prison experience.

York St Mary's

We plan to continue to commission site-specific installations for York St Mary's.