Galway's new museum has been dogged with difficulties, and seems to be still trying to establish its core identity, writes Lorna Siggins
"The museum will be part of what we call the 'ring of pearls' for Galway city." Senator Fintan Coogan, Seanad Éireann, June 2nd, 1999
"A museum is a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development . . . which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment."
International Council of Museums
When Galway city councillors met before Christmas to discuss their new "pearl", the philosophy of a museum may have been on the minds of some - a philosophy which has changed radically since the early exhibits of Renaissance collectors and "wunderkammer" or privately-owned "cabinets of curiosities". Yet the main thrust of the debate focused on euro and cent, and whether the new cultural institution should have an admission charge.
Thankfully, city officials' preference for a fee was voted down by elected councillors during the budget debate. Feeding into that debate, however, was a simmering sense of frustration on the part of several councillors in relation to progress since the museum opened earlier this year. "After an experience like Eyre Square, one is entitled to be a bit paranoid about anything that Galway City Council lays its hands on," said one councillor who did not want to be identified. "One would hate to think that this paranoia might be well founded."
Designed by Ciaran O'Connor and Ger Harvey of the Office of Public Works (OPW), the €9.6 million structure has been a long time in gestation since Ireland-West Tourism identified it as a priority in a study of the city's cultural needs. "Our artefacts cannot be displayed there. It is embarrassing to show tourists the size," Fine Gael senator Fintan Coogan said of the existing civic museum in Comerford House, Spanish Arch, during a June 1999 Seanad adjournment debate - although the white-washed house and its curator Bill Scanlan were, and are, still the subject of several warm reviews in international guidebooks.
A feasibility study was commissioned by the Heritage Council and the local authority in 2002, which stated that such a structure should be a flagship project with its "unique waterside location, its remarkable medieval heritage and the city's own reputation as a cultural tourism destination". The site next to the Spanish Arch and behind Comerford House was identified; it was agreed that costs would be shared by Galway City Council and the EU.
The building was completed by contractors John Sisk and Son Ltd within budget - to the considerable relief of officials still dealing with the Eyre Square debacle. However, like the square, the museum was behind schedule. Construction deadline was June 2005, and fit-out deadline was to have been October of the same year.
In September 2005, councillors were informed that building was continuing, but was "90 per cent" complete. Tom Connell, director of services for environment, recreation, amenity and culture, said that in spite of the delays it would be a "fantastic infrastructural asset to the city". Fine Gael councillor Padraig Conneely accused the council of "pouring money down the drain" after he learned the position of curator would have to be re-advertised, because the chosen appointee had decided not to take it up. A panel of other suitable candidates had not been earmarked from applicants.
THE MUSEUM EVENTUALLY opened in early summer with curator/director Sarah Gillespie, who previously worked with the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) and Tipperary South Riding museum in Clonmel. Shortly afterwards, it won a Bank of Ireland Opus architectural award for 2006. The judges noted that it raised the standard and design for the "city of the tribes". "This small building does many things very well," the Opus citation said. "A derelict site adjacent to the Spanish Arch has been positively transformed into a new civic space, defined by the new museum, the old city wall and the free-flowing river Corrib.
"Unlike most museums, it is outward- and not just inward-looking," the citation continued. "It embraces the city vistas and could be a cultural metaphor for a dynamic Galway. We hope it will be an active cultural centre rather than an old-fashioned museum. We know that Galway has been waiting a long time . . . but this building was worth the wait."
Two concurrent shows were opened to the public for the summer - a display of 55 pieces from the Bank of Ireland's art collection, including work by Louis le Brocquy, Robert Ballagh, John Behan, Martin Gale, Tony O'Malley, Nano Reid, Patrick Scott and Camille Souter; and the museum's first temporary exhibition, Conamar Cathrach/Fragments of a city, comprising some of the best medieval and post-medieval stone carvings from the city's collections, which was curated by city heritage officer Jim Higgins.
During last year's Galway Arts Festival, the new square backing on to Spanish Arch and the old city wall became the venue for a 20-foot fire-breathing body of a sculptor, entitled Hell Bent and mounted by Scottish visual artist David Mach. In November, the museum became an art gallery yet again for the Tulca Visual Arts Festival when artist-in-residence Louise Manifold hosted The Ghost Gaol, an animation project based on the old Galway jail building which closed in 1939.
Also, as part of Tulca, the museum hosted Omey, a collection of photographs of Omey island off Connemara by French-born Irish resident Nicolas Feve. It was hung in the museum's "black box", or climatically controlled room - the only such area in the entire two-storey building. However both Sarah Gillespie and her deputy, former city council Irish language officer and press officer Breandán Ó hEaghra, stress that the building has "met NMI criteria" and envisage no difficulty with this.
Under the Cultural Institutions Act, museums are only empowered to acquire and display archaeological objects on behalf of the State if they are so designated by the director of the NMI. This designation must also extend to the curator. A number of regional museums, including Kerry, Mayo County, Donegal and Tipperary South Riding, have already applied. Once recognised, costs of acquisitions can be shared under a scheme run by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, but there is no department with overall responsibility for the entire museum sector.
Galway is working with the NMI on its application, according to the NMI, which denies reports within museum and conservation circles that it was not consulted adequately about the project. During the hot mid-year months of last year, the city council acknowledges that there were issues with over-heating due to its large windows which offer stunning views of the city and bay. These "issues are being addressed", says Michael Burke, Galway City Council senior executive officer.
Burke stresses that the NMI consultations were initiated at a "very early stage", and points out that the Office of Public Works had already designed the NMI's new folklife building at Turlough Park in Castlebar, Co Mayo. Raghnall O'Floinn, NMI head of collections, confirms that his institution was consulted at "feasibility stage" about Galway's plans, and says it will be working with it on loans of NMI material this year.
Mayor of Galway Niall Ó Brolcháin is concerned, however. He cites issues such as storage, and the state of existing city artefacts which have been kept in the previous premises at Comerford House. "City officials have told me that the most important items are being well looked after, but there is still material in the old building, and there is a question as to whether that building and the artefacts therein are being properly maintained," he says. "You only have to look in the window to see." The mayor is also uneasy about the museum's decision to close for two months from late December to mount permanent exhibitions. "This museum is a tremendous addition to the city," he says. However, he said he is very disappointed with the problems involved in getting it up and running.
There are plans, weather permitting, to sail a full-size Galway hooker into the Claddagh from Carraroe, haul it out of the basin, treat it and hang it from the museum's ceiling - never to touch salt water again. Construction was commissioned by the local authority from builders in Carraroe, and the vessel will be suspended from the main atrium area.
Ironically, traditional boat owners who could not avail of Gaeltacht grants had appealed to Galway City Council earlier last summer to give some financial support to their sector. They argued that such craft have become an international symbol of the city, but are very expensive to maintain for those owners who are not able to avail of Gaeltacht grants for them. It is understood that both the city council and Galway Harbour Company have responded positively to the case made.
STILL, SOME MEMBERS of the Galway hooker community believe that it is "madness" for the city council to spend so much money on a new craft with no history, which will be imprisoned in a building that looks out onto several Claddagh vessels sharing decades of sea miles along the Atlantic coastline. BreandáÓ hEaghra defends the project. "It wasn't just about building the boat, but about filming the method by which it is done, recording that tradition."
Michael Burke of Galway City Council says the museum does have a mission statement, which is "being finalised", and is based on a report commissioned from museum consultant Aidan Walsh several years ago. During the eight- to 10-week closure, sets will be mounted, objects placed under the supervision of conservators, and information panels and audio-visual equipment installed. Permanent displays will begin on the ground floor, and the aim is to relate the history of the city through a "series of storylines", which will be similar to a "theatre set", Gillespie and Ó hEaghra explain. "Looking at the past through the present, if you like," Gillespie says.
Key events such as visits to Galway by Pope John Paul II and the late US president John F Kennedy will be recorded, and the idea is to "give visitors a flavour of what Galway is and what makes it special". One of the more interesting ideas is the community gallery, comprising pieces selected by 12 individuals who were asked to define what Galway meant to them. A 13-year-old boy made a model of Eyre Square out of metal; another chose his brother's hurley stick; another participant chose stones and sand from the shores of the bay. A "medieval gallery" will relate the story of Galway's tribes, and the second floor will focus on the Claddagh and its development.
Ó hEaghra, whose remit extends to education and outreach, has plans to tap into Galway's arts community, and intends to organise talks, seminars, workshops on specific crafts - similar to those hosted by the NMI's folklife museum in Mayo. He says that the museum will be "child-friendly", and is very optimistic about its future. "It is a fresh canvas," he says. "A very exciting challenge."
