Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

City council hopes to share museum centre’s historic treasures with the community this summer

The Treasure Hub on Granitehill Road, Northfield
The Treasure Hub on Granitehill Road, Northfield

Heritage chiefs have announced plans to boost visitor numbers at a £6.5 million centre amid a row over poor public access.

A family fun day is among events which will bring residents to the Aberdeen Treasure Hub” on Granitehill Road, Northfield, this summer.

The facility was built to house the local authority’s collection of around 200,000 artworks and artefacts while they are not on display in museums and galleries.

Public access was claimed to be a “key” part of the scheme, which ran almost twice over budget.

But the Press and Journal revealed yesterday that only around 800 people had toured it since November’s opening – with one month attracting only three.

The figures were described as “shocking” by Liberal Democrat group leader Ian Yuill, one of many to demand an improvement.

The council has now announced plans to increase the Treasure Hub’s profile and attract more people to enjoy its extensive collection of masterpieces and remnants of north-east history.

An upcoming family fun day at the centre on July 27 has already been fully booked with 42 people, and further events will be held throughout the coming months at the site as part of the council’s “Say Hello To Summer” campaign.

It was created to encourage the community to take advantage of Aberdeen’s galleries and museums during the holidays.

A spokesman for the city council said: “The Treasure Hub’s primary function is as a storage facility for the safe and secure storage of the city’s heritage assets, safeguarding the internationally important art collections and nationally important history collection.

“It was designed to make the collections more accessible for staff and researchers, in a simpler way to the city and shire archives in Old Aberdeen, but with the added advantage of a small class-sized space to allow schools and groups to visit and see behind the scenes of the working storage repository.

“So there is an element of managed public access and we welcome visitors to the site on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and special open days that take place on three or four Saturdays throughout the year.

“However, it should not be compared with the Maritime Museum or the Art Gallery in that it is not an open museum.

“We are still moving collections from our other stores to the site in Northfield, and will be doing so until well into 2019.

“However, the building is now open and operational and no further significant capital costs have been incurred with the current spend being £6.549m as reported in February this year.”