Leeds museum with gruesome past secures £420,000 to plan major changes
More than £420,000 has been awarded to the Thackray Museum of Medicine as it develops plans for the future of its Grade II listed Leeds home.
A Leeds museum known for its immersive, and sometimes slightly gruesome, look at medical history has secured thousands of pounds in funding to help plan its next chapter.
Thackray Museum of Medicine, next to St James’s University Hospital, has been awarded the money from grant organisations led by The National Lottery Heritage Fund as it marks its 30th anniversary year.
The money, awarded by a consortium of grant bodies totalling £420,000 led by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will support essential repairs and ambitious plans to enhance the museum’s facilities.
The funding includes £249,500 from the Heritage Fund and will help the museum explore how it can care for and develop its Grade II listed home, the former Leeds Union Workhouse building.
Museum leaders say the support will give them space to think about major changes, including how to welcome more visitors and how to make better use of the building.
The roof needs replacing and the museum could also look at creating an extra floor.
Edward Appleyard, chief executive, said the award represented a significant moment for Thackray.
“This support gives us the time and space to think ambitiously about what the museum can become over the next three decades,” he said.
“It will allow us to build on our progress by rethinking how our spaces are used, opening up more opportunities for people to connect with our collections, and work with communities, creatives, researchers and partners to make Thackray even braver, more accessible and more sustainable for the future.”
Opened in 1997, the museum is housed in a building that once served as the Leeds Union Workhouse and includes the Victorian cobbled avenue known as Disease Street.
It describes itself as the largest medical museum of its kind and presents exhibitions that celebrate health heroes and the advances that have shaped the world today.
Visitors can move through scenes of the “grimy” streets of ancient Leeds, watch olden-day operations in a 19th century theatre and follow the history of medicine through the years.
The museum has also been a finalist for Art Fund Museum of the Year and shortlisted for European Museum of the Year in recent years.
Current exhibitions focus on plants, while a half-term programme called Mighty Mushrooms is also planned.
There will also be a more gothic event on October 29, with Grave Expectations exploring the darker side of medical history.
Its next exhibition, Complexion, opens in February and focuses on people with melanin-rich skin, exploring their stories.
Prof Neil Kaiper-Holmes, outgoing chair, said the team had brought its ambitions to life and placed the museum on a sustainable path for the future.
Helen Featherstone, director for the North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “It is fantastic news that Thackray will put their visitors and local communities at the heart of their plans to shape the future of this much-loved heritage attraction.”