The Peace Museum in Bradford has secured funding to move from its current city centre location to a mill building in Saltaire, a nearby village and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £245,651 will fund the project, titled ‘IMAGINE: Creating The Peace Museum of the Future’.
It will see the creation of public exhibition and engagement spaces at Salts Mill in Saltaire, set to open to the public in summer 2024.
The museum said the new premises “will create many more opportunities for visitors, researchers, and community groups to explore the diverse range of stories told by the museum’s collection,” and “will allow a larger number of people to freely access peace history for the foreseeable future.”
The museum was one of many to close during the pandemic, and has since held a range of digital and travelling exhibitions.
Clive Barrett, Chair of Trustees at The Peace Museum, said the opening, ahead of Bradford becoming the City of Culture in 2025, will allow it to “welcome visitors from all over the world to our brand-new museum in the heart of the district.”
Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, added: “Bradford is a city of peace and we’re so excited that The Peace Museum is opening again, increasing access to their incredible collection.
“This is a huge opportunity to celebrate and share our district’s diverse history of social reform – with our communities and with visitors from around the world, in the year 2025 and beyond.”
The National Science and Media Museum, also in Bradford, recently announced its temporary closure as it sets out on a £6 million capital project, ‘Sound and Vision’, also set to open in 2024 ahead of the Bradford City of Culture celebrations.
