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Today, The Hunterian at the University of Glasgow is announcing a £249,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The funding will allow The Hunterian to carry out a crucial scoping project that will shape the future of its public-facing venues, the Hunterian Museum and Hunterian Art Gallery, which are significant parts of Glasgow’s built heritage.

The Hunterian Museum, housed in the University’s Gilbert Scott building, has been open to the public since 1870. The Hunterian Art Gallery, in the William Whitfield building, was constructed between 1973 and 1981.

The Hunterian is Scotland’s oldest public museum, with collections spanning arts, sciences and humanities. Since it opened in 1807, The Hunterian has been an invaluable academic and community resource for learning and understanding. Today The Hunterian is committed to becoming a more meaningful place for more diverse audiences.

Funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund will allow The Hunterian to identify what is required to revitalise its ageing buildings, safeguard its important collections and serve the needs of its communities.

The project, titled ‘Unlocking the Potential of The Hunterian: The Changing Museum’, will enable The Hunterian to create a clear plan and set of activities to understand what is needed to achieve transformational change.

As well as a comprehensive survey of the buildings, funded and carried out by the University of Glasgow, the project will also consider what happens inside the venues.

Putting people at the heart of this work, ‘Unlocking the Potential of The Hunterian’ will take a participatory approach and build equitable relationships with stakeholders and communities, giving them a central role in defining what The Hunterian will be for the next generation.

Through a programme of survey work, consultation, collaboration and co-production, The Hunterian will explore barriers to inclusion, opening up the collections to more diverse voices and working with them to develop future programmes and displays.

Caroline Clark, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland, said:

"We are very pleased that thanks to National Lottery players we are able to support this important project and invest in the future of The Hunterian collections and Scotland's oldest public museum.

Generations of visitors and researchers have enjoyed and learned from The Hunterian collections and this project will help to ensure they continue to provide an important and relevant resource."

Steph Scholten, Director of The Hunterian said:

“We are delighted to receive this funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to undertake this crucial foundational work. When our vision is realised, our collections will be protected, displayed in revitalised, sustainable venues and will meet the needs of all of our visitors.

We will work with our communities to give them a central role in shaping the future of The Hunterian, creating spaces where people can think critically, and can come together to both challenge and find common ground.”

At the project’s conclusion, The Hunterian will better understand the needs of its audiences and the work required to safeguard and enhance its venues, including the safe and sustainable display of its collections.

Completion of the project will allow The Hunterian to develop a future bid to fund the redevelopment work necessary to conserve and upgrade the buildings.

‘Unlocking the Potential of The Hunterian: The Changing Museum’ will run throughout 2025, and the findings will be made available in Spring 2026.

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Notes to Editors

About The Hunterian
The oldest public museum in Scotland, with collections spanning arts, sciences and humanities, The Hunterian is at the forefront of university museums around the world. Since it opened at the University of Glasgow in 1807, The Hunterian has been an invaluable academic and community resource and in years to come, The Hunterian is committed to becoming a more meaningful place for more diverse audiences.

As a university gallery and museum, The Hunterian creates space for intellectual inquiry and a process of learning and experimentation. The Hunterian collection’s Enlightenment history made a repository of knowledge that materialises the problematic history of Western modernity and its fundamentally colonial and capitalist underpinnings. The founding collection came through the bequest of Dr William Hunter (1718-1783) and since The Hunterian opened at the University of Glasgow in 1807, the collections have been developed in ways that reflect our city’s deep relationship with empire, transatlantic slavery, colonialism and migration. 

The Hunterian cares for some of Scotland's finest collections that cover subjects as diverse as the history of medicine, zoology and art. The whole collection is ‘Recognised’ as nationally significant in Scotland and includes outstanding Roman artefacts from the Antonine Wall; vast natural and life science collections; scientific instruments used by James Watt, Joseph Lister and Lord Kelvin; one of the world’s greatest collections of coins and medals and objects and belongings brought to Glasgow from around the world during hundreds of years of trade, empire, exploitation and migration. 

The Hunterian is also home to one of the most distinguished public art collections in Scotland and features works by James McNeill Whistler, the Glasgow Boys and Scottish Colourists, the largest single holding of the work of artists Margaret MacDonald and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, along with The Mackintosh House, the reassembled interiors from their Glasgow home. The Hunterian has also developed an important collection of works by leading contemporary artists including Christine Borland, Lucy Skaer and Adam Pendleton.

Hunterian Museum
The Hunterian Museum is housed in the Grade A-listed Gilbert Scott building, at the heart of the University of Glasgow campus. The building is a prime example of British neogothic architecture and the purpose-built museum within has been open to the public since 1870.

The Hunterian Museum brings an enormous sense of continuity to the built heritage of the University, from its roots in the first public museum in Scotland since 1807, to continuous occupation of its current site for over 150 years, and its ongoing role as a bridge between the wider city and the University.

Hunterian Art Gallery
The William Whitfield building is home to both the Hunterian Art Gallery and the Mackintosh House. The Mackintosh House is an iconic destination in Glasgow and one of the very few places left in the city where people can experience original Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh interiors. It has global appeal and is a beloved part of our public offer for both local residents and international tourists alike.

The building itself is one of the few parts of the 1970–80s Brutalist redevelopment of the University of Glasgow campus that remains unchanged since built. Previously overshadowed by the Gilbert Scott building, it is coming to be appreciated as a fine example of an increasingly disappearing built heritage in Glasgow. While not listed, it is one of the remaining examples of a moment in time during the University’s development.

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About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033.

Over the next ten years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.

We help protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.

We are passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund www.heritagefund.org.uk

Further Information

For further information or images contact Harriet Gaston, Communications Manager, The Hunterian.

 

First published: 1 December 2024