€4m expansion in the pipeline for city museum

An application to Fáilte Ireland is to be submitted by the end of this month for a €4m expansion of Galway City Museum and the creation of cultural hub around the Spanish Arch.

Plans which have been worked on for over three years are being finalised in the next fortnight in order to capitalise on a funding stream which provides three-quarters of the capital cost of a major touristic amenity.

With attendance figures for the Galway City Museum well up for 2016 – and last year’s figures recorded 174,000 visitors, making it in the top three free attractions outside the capital – an ambitious expansion proposal is well justified ahead of the one million tourist influx for 2020.

Previous sketches show a doubling of floor space, a link into the adjacent Comerford House – an early 1800’s building embedded into the Spanish Arch structure once used as a civic museum – and the creation of a viewing platform over the River Corrib from the top of the Spanish Arch. The blind or closed arch beside it could be developed into a permanent exhibition of the city’s stone work.

“Part of what we’re looking at is expanding the museum to create educational and outreach services year round. We’re looking to link in and develop with other cultural amenities in the area,” explained a spokesman for Galway City Council.

“We own a row of terrace house on Lower Merchants Road opposite the House Hotel that could be developed into residential workshops for multimedia artists. These could be linked in with the Hall of the Red Earls, the Druid Theatre so you would have a significant level of attractions for visitors at the half way point of the Wild Atlantic Way.”

For more on the museum expansion, see this week’s Galway City Tribune