Ageing Minerva moves from museum spot for repair work

The Roman goddess Minerva will leave her home outside the Southland Museum and Art Gallery where she has stood guard for 76 years to be repaired.

At yesterday’s Invercargill City Council Infrastructure and Services Committee meeting the council was told the statue needed to be removed for conservation and repair work, and to free up the area for the installation of site huts for staff use while the museum is closed.

At the meeting, Southland Museum and Art Gallery manager Paul Horner said the statue was beginning to show its age and was in need of work.

There would need to be a discussion about whether Minerva was homed inside the museum or outside, and how often maintenance would take place, he said.

Councillor Ian Pottinger said if the statue remained outside, it would suffer the same fate it had now.

Chairman Lindsay Thomas said an initial inspection of the statue took place in 2016 and it had taken two years to get to this state.

‘‘You need to speed these processes up rather than wait for such a long time. We know the condition of Minerva and the deterioration is only going to be ongoing.’’

Cranage for the removal and placement onto a pallet will cost $5000, paid for from the Museum Operations budget.

The council report says, for the time being, a future estimation cost for the conservation of the statue is unknown until closer inspection, but is expected to be about $50,000.

The statue is expected to be removed on Friday.