It’s not the end...just the beginning

Piper Iain MacDonald played as the door was closed at the museum, which is being redesigned by award-winning international architects AL_A.

Councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes, chair of Renfrewshire Leisure, was joined by chief executive Joyce McKellar to lock the museum’s giant doors and carry out the last few exhibits.

The adjacent Central Library also closed on Thursday to let work start on creating a new-look cultural hub.

The revamped museum will showcase its outstanding art, science and natural history collections, along with telling the story of the Paisley pattern, the town’s famous weavers and being at the centre of the global thread-making industry.

The refurbished museum is expected to attract 125,000 visits a year – almost four times current numbers – when it reopens its doors in 2022.

And it’s estimated that it will create huge amounts of visitors to Paisley town centre, as well as a £72m economic boost over 30 years.

The redevelopment will include a contemporary addition to the existing Victorian-era building, major revamps to all four museum buildings including the Coats Observatory, and a complete internal redesign reimagining the visitor experience and doubling the number of objects on display.

Councillor Hughes said:“This may seem like the end of an era for Paisley’s wonderful museum and Central Library.

“But it’s also the beginning of something fantastic that will put Paisley at the heart of the Scotland’s culture and heritage.

“When these doors open again in four years time we’ll have a visitor attraction that will bring people flocking to Paisley and it will also be something local people can feel rightly proud about.”

Joyce McKellar added:“Paisley Museum has a treasure trove of many different kinds of collections that will be of interest to people from all over the world.

“It will be well worth the wait to have a new museum that can do justice to these collections.”

The museum project is being funded by Renfrewshire Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.