New-look museum opens its doors

Through history, art and nature, the Ulster Museum brings us on a journey through time. Julie McCullough reports.

The Ulster Museum in Belfast has opened its doors after a three-year renovation project costing £17m.

The new-look museum - which first opened on 22 October 1929 - features an open-plan welcome area, which allows visitors to look up through all three floors of the building.

Pictures of the past

Visitors' favourites, such as the Egyptian mummy, Takabuti, are on show in revamped displays.

The mummy, from the 7th Century BC, was brought to Belfast in the 1800s by Thomas Greg.

The museum is marking its opening with a major exhibition by Irish-born artist Sean Scully, which will run until February 2010.

Scully's massive abstract canvases take up most of the top floor of the revamped museum.

The Curator of Fine Art at the Museum, Anne Stewart, hopes it will mean the museum can also be recognised as Northern Ireland's National Gallery.

BBC Newsline website

Three years after it was last open, the Ulster Museum opens its doors again following a multi-million pound refurbishment.