The Otago Museum’s Victorian-inspired Animal Attic gallery will be closed between Monday 1 May and Friday 16 June for Museum facilities, conservation and collections staff to carry out a range of tasks focused on its ongoing conservation.
Although the reopened gallery will not look any different to visitors, important improvements will be made during this time, both to the building itself and the specimens on display.
Aimed at avoiding and minimising future deterioration or loss to collections, the preventative work undertaken will include maintenance of the gallery’s historic cases, improvements to seals on skylights and doors, and a deep clean of the gallery.
The Museum’s conservation team will also take the opportunity to inspect and, if necessary, treat specimens currently on display in Animal Attic.
“Preventative conservation is an important aspect of caring for a collection as historically important and diverse as ours,” says Otago Museum’s Conservation Manager Nyssa Mildwaters.
“This work will not interfere with the specimens on display, or the way they are to be displayed in future, but rather allows us to address the realities of running a Museum – including light, humidity, pollution and pest control.”
“Once reopened in June, our visitors will experience the same weird and wonderful Animal Attic that they have enjoyed in the past. This work simply allows us to preserve this space, and the treasured creatures it hosts, for future generations of Museum visitors.”