The Ipswich Museum redevelopment plans, and lack of information surrounding them, are deeply troubling.

The nationally important Ogilvie Bird Gallery is to be removed.

We are concerned that there is a lack of sensitivity to what makes the wonderful Victorian Natural History Gallery so special and that elements of modernisation will spoil what is a rare example of a complete Victorian Museum.

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Below is a link to the images that have caused our concern and provoked this petition - THIS LINK HAS NOW BEEN REMOVED BY THE MUSEUM AND IT WILL NOW TAKE YOU TO THE CONSULTATION APPLICATION (JM 18/2/23)

https://ipswich.cimuseums.org.uk/ipswichmuseumredevelopment/

Please read these new web pages- the Ogilvie Bird Gallery is not mentioned (though Bass Rock is) because it is due to be permanently removed.

Please take part in the consultation (link above) to try and save this nationally important collection and continue to sign and share this petition.

And to prevent the modernisation and re-interpretation of what is an unspoilt example of a Victorian museum.

(JM 18/2/23)

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Please sign this petition to stop this major redevelopment until the designs are reconsidered with due sympathy to the building and its exhibits and to public feeling on the matter.

Please keep your eyes out for the opportunity to be part of the public consultation on this redevelopment -  no information yet about when, who or how this will happen.

Ipswich Museum is a gem of a Victorian museum. It contains fascinating exhibits and collections that could not and should not be accumulated today; including a large collection of taxidermy animal specimens, housed in their original glass cases, in the Victorian mode of presentation and organisation of knowledge-the museum. It contains so many artefacts of interest, as well as being visually inspiring and having its own unique atmosphere.

The plan appears to be, please see link, to replace parts of the museum with over-explained, visually overwrought display that replaces the emphasis from objects and their settings to written interpretations, photographs, screens and huge lettering in a bewildering patchwork. Walls and original ironwork to be painted white, as though it were a house renovation, not a heritage site. * In its desperate strain to be contemporary it will be tired and out-dated in a year. An irreplaceable example of cultural heritage will be lost, along with its as yet unmeasured relevance to visitors of today and of the future. Council tax payers of Ipswich are paying for this, but who are the ‘local community’ who have supposedly been consulted and who have urged this change? 
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* The Victorian Gallery will not be painted white and the fabric of this part of the museum, ie what is listed, will remain. 

 

Huge changes are planned for the museum - despite the Council now adopting language like ‘restoration’ to describe this major redevelopment. Please look at the planning application here - 21/00524/LBC
First Floor Plan

https://ppc.ipswich.gov.uk/getdoc.aspx?filename=\\capsvr2\planedms\FCDFD111B49811EBA5A5D46D6DAA7CF5.pdf&filepath=

Ground Floor Plan
https://ppc.ipswich.gov.uk/getdoc.aspx?filename=%5C%5Ccapsvr2%5Cplanedms%5CABD49334B4C911EBA5A5D46D6DAA7CF5.pdf&filepath=

No Ogilvie Bird Gallery. What we will happen to your favourite artefacts? And with so much emphasis on the ‘new’ how will the atmosphere of the Victorian heart of the museum be retained?