Crawford Art Gallery announces temporary closure

ONE of Cork’s most popular galleries has announced a month’s long closure.

The Crawford Art Gallery in Cork City announced today that it will temporarily close to visitors from March 21 to April 21 to facilitate investigative works.

The works are part of the gallery’s Capital Redevelopment Project, which will see a major redevelopment taking place in the building, first erected in 1724, next year.

The €29m project will form part of the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 plan.

The investigative works taking place during the closure will help to inform the final design decisions in advance of a planning submission to be made to Cork City Council later this year.

“By undertaking this work now, it will ensure a greater degree of certainty as we move forward into this hugely important time for Crawford,” said gallery director Mary McCarthy.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience to our audiences and visitors during the temporary four-week closure but are confident that by doing this now, the project will face less interruption and uncertainty once it goes into the major construction phase in mid-2023.

"The project is on track. This is a necessary period so that there's more certainty going into the planning process. It's just something we have to get through and we'll keep a very active online programme and we'll reopen with some exciting new shows."

Cork-based construction company PJ Hegarty and Sons will work with Crawford Art Gallery and its design team, led by Grafton Architects and the Office of Public Works, to carry out the investigations.

The gallery has planned a free St Patrick’s Festival programme with tours, workshops, and music ahead of the closure.

Visitors will also still be able to enjoy a wide range of virtual exhibitions and collections during the closure on the gallery’s website.

“We encourage visitors to visit us virtually for these four weeks, using our innovative virtual tours of current exhibitions and our extensive and regularly-updated online resources,” said Ms McCarthy.

“We look forward to reopening and continuing with our vibrant on-site programmes.” 

When the Gallery reopens in April, members of the public will be invited back to visit new exhibitions such as the Zurich Portrait Prize 2021 and Zurich Young Portrait Prize 2021.