Work began in autumn 2005 on an ambitious project to turn the old Civic Theatre into an exciting new museum for Leeds.
The project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Leeds City Council, the Single Regeneration Budget and Yorkshire Forward will see the Grade II-listed Civic Institute building off Millennium Square transformed into a state-of-the-art museum. Alongside the new museum, a new accessible store - The Leeds Museum Discovery Centre - has been created near Clarence Dock as part of the project and will open later this year.
Due to open in August 2008, the Leeds City Museum will feature four floors of exhibitions and a large central arena. The exhibitions will include “Ancient Worlds” – looking at life and death in ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, and the “Living Planet” Gallery which will explore the variety of life on our planet and in Leeds, examining the environmental issues confronting us today.
The “Leeds Collectors” Gallery will explore what makes objects valuable and why people collect them, while the “World View” Gallery will initially focus on Africa and its culture. In addition, an entire floor "The Leeds Story" will be devoted to the history of Leeds and its people from the earliest times to the present day.
The exhibits will feature interactive elements to challenge and interest budding archaeologists of all ages, as well as showing well-loved objects such as the Giant Irish Elk, the Leeds Tiger and the Egyptian Mummy which dates back 3000 years.
A focal point of the museum will be the Central Arena, which will have film clips of various aspects of Leeds life shown from big screens suspended from the ceiling. One of the main attractions will be a stunning large-scale map of the city on the floor, which will let Leeds residents to literally walk on their house!
In addition to the featured areas, the new museum will also have added space in which to host touring national exhibitions or community exhibitions, while balconies on the first floor will enable visitors to look down on the Central Arena. Other facilities will include a café and spaces for education or holding conferences.
The grade II listed building which will house the museum was designed following an architectural competition in 1860 for the building of a Mechanics Institute in Cookridge Street. The first prize was awarded to Cuthbert Broderick, who had designed the Leeds Town Hall, and the Corn Exchange. The foundation stone was laid in 1865, and the building opened in 1868.
The main feature of the building is a circular lecture hall, with a gallery supported by cast iron columns. As well as this there was a library, classrooms and reading rooms, and on the first floor an art gallery, and rooms used by the School of Design. The circular lecture hall, the 'Albert Hall' measures 73 feet in diameter, is 52 ft high and could accommodate 1500 spectators.
All in all the future looks very exciting and bright for the old Institute building as it gets a new lease of life to carry it through into the 22nd century for us and future generations to marvel at and enjoy.