Aberdeen Art Gallery has been awarded a phenomenal £10m of lottery funding for an ambitious upgrade of the building.
The Heritage Lottery Fund grant will cover a third of the cost of the the project, with the council and a public fundraising campaign to cover the rest.
The £30million scheme to improve the Art Gallery, Cowdray Hall and Memorial Court secured planning permission and listed building consent last autumn and has won the backing of Historic Scotland.
The building is set to be closed from early 2015 until 2017 while the building is updated and ‘brought into the 21st century’.
Aberdeen City Council Leader Councillor Jenny Laing said: “I am thoroughly delighted that HLF has supported the scheme with this sizeable capital grant – the only one to be awarded in Scotland in the latest round of awards.
“Investment in the Art Gallery and its collections will ensure that this great city’s artistic heritage is protected and enhanced for many years to come.
“We are now embarking upon the fund-raising campaign to raise the rest of the capital funding required. I would urge organisations, businesses and individuals to invest in the much-loved Aberdeen gallery and the wider project so that they can say that this project was something they themselves helped to make happen.”
Deputy Council Leader Councillor Marie Boulton said: “The project will give us many more opportunities to display our wonderful collections, which are among the finest in the United Kingdom, bringing benefits for local people and visitors alike.
“The interior improvements will also thoroughly modernise the gallery and allow us to attract the best possible range of incoming exhibitions and individual exhibits.”
