Glencoe Folk Museum is looking to the future as the best way of preserving its past.
Design work is progressing on a £1.3 million lottery-funded redevelopment of the attraction which is due to open next year.
As the museum prepares to open for the 2022 season on April 2, Peter Drummond Architects and exhibition designers, Mather & Co, are working with staff and the community to create a new facility fit for the 21st century while retaining the traditional look of the original.
Museum holds more than 6,000 artefacts
The museum, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017, holds more than 6,000 artefacts and chronicles life in the Glencoe area between the 17th and 21st centuries.
It details subjects including the Massacre of Glencoe and Jacobite uprisings as well as industry, childhood and sport.
The redevelopment plans include a new building at the back of the museum’s historic listed cottages, creating a new reception area, gift shop and exhibition space.
A priority is to enhance visitor access along with improving display conditions for the more vulnerable objects in the collection.
A highlight of the new displays will be an immersive, state-of-the-art projection and audio feature placing visitors in a MacDonald cottage on the night of the 1692 massacre.
This exhibition will bring to life the personal stories of the massacre and the religious, political and cultural environment around the infamous event.
Redevelopment project ‘on track’
Other collection highlights include a ‘coffin boat’ once used to transport bodies to the clan burial island of Eilean Munde.
There is also a 1740s silk dress passed down the generations of a local family, a replica of the mysterious bronze-age Ballachulish Goddess and a genealogical chart depicting the branches of Clan Donald.
Project director David Rounce says: “There’s a lot of work ahead, including fundraising and shortly seeking planning permission.
“But we’re well on-track to make a museum that will be a real hub for local heritage – bringing Glencoe’s unique history to life for the community and our visitors from around the globe.”
The redevelopment will also restore the museum’s listed 18th century cottages, the only surviving genuine heather-thatched structures in the area.
Funding from the Pilgrim Trust has been secured to renew the thatch and help the museum ensure its long-term preservation.
A planning application to rethatch the roof was submitted to Highland Council in December.
Museum curator Catriona Davidson added: “We’ve been talking about this project since I started working here over five years ago.
Community consultation
“So it’s really exciting to finally be able to share our plans as everything comes together.
“Behind the scenes we’re busy researching, choosing artefacts and gathering stories.
“We’ve also been running community consultation sessions – we really want our museum to reflect the community that created it.
“So it’s important to us that we are sharing as many local voices as possible.”