Hackney Museum secures grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for major transformation

Hackney Council has been awarded a £2,241,216 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to redesign and modernise Hackney Museum, creating a more dynamic and inclusive space for residents, with the aim to use the museum’s unique historical collections in bold and exciting new ways.

The new permanent exhibition at the museum will highlight how the local area has been shaped by 300,000 years of migration and settlement. Alongside the redesign and redisplay of the permanent exhibition, other significant changes will include a new visitor reception, two temporary exhibition areas, a redeveloped community room, an improved shop, events and teaching spaces, and enhanced digital resources so more people can access Hackney’s rich histories.

Local community groups and organisations will play a key role in shaping the redevelopment, contributing ideas towards permanent and temporary exhibitions, digital content, and skills development programmes. There will be opportunities for volunteers to get involved and help reveal local histories about the impact of the Blitz, activism and social change.

Stories and objects in the new permanent exhibition will explore the social and economic changes which have made the area a desirable place to live, as well as a range of issues which have challenged communities too. The borough’s long history of community solidarity and activism will be showcased. Hackney’s famous Anglo-Saxon longboat discovered in Springfield Park will be redisplayed, alongside the much-loved replica of the boat which thousands of children have sat in. Remains of a 300,000 year old straight tusked elephant - the world's largest ever land mammal - discovered in Evering Road, Stoke Newington, will be displayed to show a time when the local climate and landscape were dramatically different, with Hackney resembling a South African savannah.

Kaynak: news.hackney.gov.uk