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00:07 My name is Duncan Dornan. I'm Head of Museums and Collections for Glasgow Life.
00:13 We're here in Provins Lordship, Glasgow's oldest house, a medieval building,
00:17 to mark its reopening to the public after a major investment and refurbishment.
00:21 We're really excited to reopen the building which speaks to the origins of Glasgow
00:26 and really gives people a sense of how Glasgow developed from those earliest days.
00:30 So a very substantial project. The building's been closed for, and working on this for around two years.
00:36 Major improvements to the fabric of the building, the stonework, the windows,
00:41 stabilising it, giving it durability for the future, and also helping to improve the environmental sustainability
00:47 so better insulation and therefore better to protect the collections and create a comfortable and stable environment.
00:52 So really excited to be able to see this reopen and a major contribution from the construction company,
00:58 the architects and the museum team in informing that and re-displaying it.
01:02 This and the cathedral are the two oldest buildings in the city and it gives people a really clear physical sense
01:10 of where Glasgow was built and why Glasgow is here and everything that Glasgow is has evolved from that.
01:15 So this location was really critical to why the Christian settlement was established here
01:20 and it established that connection down to the river which of course we know was the very fundamental resource
01:25 that Glasgow had that caused it to develop so successfully.
01:28 So if you want to understand Glasgow you have to start here with the cathedral,
01:32 with St Mungo's and Province Lordship to really understand what Glasgow grew from.
01:36 Glasgow Life have worked with the City Council, with City Building,
01:39 and with a team of specialist conservation architects to develop and deliver this project
01:43 so we can maintain the fabric of the building, ensure the interventions are faithful to the original design
01:49 intent and they'll sustain it over the years.
01:52 What we're able to do with the conservation architects is to identify technologies
01:57 which are appropriate and sympathetic to the way this building was designed.
02:01 So for example the use of lime render on the outside of the building in lime and the joints
02:06 means that the building and the stonework are able to manage moisture in the way it was originally designed and intended
02:10 and that makes it much more stable and resilient.
02:13 St Mungo's will open to the public again tomorrow on the 29th.
02:16 We're open from 10 until 5 every day except Fridays and Sundays when we open at 11am.
02:21 As with all of Glasgow's museums, the Civic Museum's entry to Province Lordship is free
02:26 and Province Lordship and St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life next door,
02:30 together with the cathedral, make a really exciting visit and really give you a sense of this city and its origins.
02:36 I'm Martin Bellaby, I'm head of the research and curatorial team for Glasgow Museums.
02:40 I was overseeing the curatorial involvement in the project, so working with the curators
02:46 to unearth the history of the building and the collections that are displayed in the building.
02:51 What we have here is actually a mini Burrell collection.
02:55 William Burrell provided the funds for the Province Lordship Society who took over the collection or the building
03:02 and he gave money to the society to buy collections, furniture and implements that would go into the building
03:12 that were characteristic of the time.
03:15 The building didn't have any surviving furniture or anything.
03:19 It had been private dwelling, it had been a shop, so there was nothing of the original objects that were original to the building.
03:29 So everything for the redisplay of the building as a historic house had to come in separately.
03:34 So William Burrell used his connections and his historic knowledge to work with dealers and other collectors
03:42 to identify Scottish furniture of the time that would be appropriate for the building.
03:48 So there's nothing that was originally in the building from the time,
03:53 but it's all of the type that would have been used at the time.
03:58 It's an important historic collection in its own right and it shows really interesting connections with the actual Burrell collection
04:06 in that the Burrell collection is very much European and English furniture
04:10 and this is the Scottish side of that Burrell collection, if you like.
04:14 It demonstrates Sir William Burrell's real focus and interest in Scottish history.
04:22 I'm Scott Abercrombie, I was the conservation architect on the Province Lordship project.
04:26 So we've been involved for the last two years.
04:29 We got involved first just inspecting the condition of the building and then that developed into a repairs project.
04:34 So we've been involved in inspecting works throughout and specifying all the different repairs.
04:38 So the biggest change that people will notice when they visit the museum today is the change to the external appearance.
04:43 So we restored all the stonework in the building, but as part of that we've also introduced a lime harlan on the outside,
04:48 which is essentially a kind of protective coat for the building which helps protect it from increased rainfall
04:53 and it's also a historic finish that was on the building in the past, so it's taken it back to its historic appearance.
04:58 So there's been loads of improvements to the building through the project,
05:01 everything from upgrading the glazing to double glazing, insulating the loft,
05:05 improving all the services throughout the building and just making sure that it's fit for our current times.
05:11 And was there anything unusual that you came across?
05:14 Yeah, there's a whole host of hidden things that you find in the building.
05:17 All the slates on the roof are fixed with oak pegs rather than nails.
05:21 There's bits and pieces of hidden structure from the different variations that the buildings went through in the different construction periods.
05:29 So yeah, there's loads of different hidden interesting things that you find when you get under the skin of a building like this.
05:34 So yeah, it's fascinating to find a building this old and still see it so well preserved and get the chance to get under the skin of it.
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