Final shortlist of four announced for Gulbenkian Museum Prize. I'm keeping 
my fingers crossed for the ss Great Britain in Bristol, UK!!
Regards
Rosemary Silvester
Bristol Magpies,
Supporters Group Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives


Short list for Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries announced

12/04/06

An adventurously designed museum that houses Roman treasures and a new 
exhibition by contemporary artist Grayson Perry; the world?s greatest 
collection of preserved medical specimens graphically demonstrating a 
catalogue of diseases; a new underground environmentally sustainable 
gallery at a beautifully landscaped culture park; and one of Britain?s most 
important historic ships make up the short list for the 2006 Gulbenkian 
Prize for museums and galleries.

The Gulbenkian Prize is the UK?s biggest single arts prize at £100,000 
given annually to one museum or gallery anywhere in the UK, regardless of 
its size or budget. The short list was chosen from a long list of ten that 
included the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, Wales; Concorde at the 
Museum of Flight in Edinburgh; and the new Roald Dahl Museum and Story 
Centre at Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire.

The short list of four is as follows:

Brunel?s ss Great Britain, Bristol ? The ship superbly preserved by a £11.3 
million project is short-listed as it celebrates the 200th anniversary of 
the birth of the great British engineer.  In a real rescue story, the ship 
was towed back from the Falkland Islands to its dry dock in Bristol where 
its condition started to deteriorate dramatically.   Now resting on a giant 
dehumidification system beneath a glass ?sea?, Brunel?s resplendent vessel 
was ?re-launched? in July 2005 and brings the Victorian maritime world to 
life though objects as small as the captain?s gold ring to the soaring 
mainstay and accessible crow?s nest.

The Collection: Art & Archaeology in Lincolnshire, Lincoln ? This new £12.5 
million museum displays fine art and artefacts from Roman, Viking and 
Medieval eras.  The Collection was created after local residents formed an 
action group to lobby councillors to build a new museum to house over 2 
million archaeological objects.    The result is a collection of 
internationally significant treasures covering over 250,000 years of 
history in Lincolnshire, including a 3x3m Roman mosaic found at the bottom 
of the museum?s lift shaft.

The Hunterian Museum, London ? A £3.1 million project completely renewing 
the permanent galleries of the oldest and most important medical collection 
in the world.    At the heart of the museum is the collection of 18th 
century surgeon John Hunter, the pioneer of scientific surgery.  With 
collections that span 200 years of medicine, natural history and the arts, 
The Hunterian is a sometimes controversial revelation of anatomical 
practice.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, Yorkshire ? The creation of The 
Underground Gallery, a new space for temporary exhibitions, costing £2.75 
million.  The gallery, was built beneath the sloping lawns of the 18th 
century Bothy Garden in order to protect the landscaped park above. Natural 
light comes from a glazed concourse and it is an example of how a 
contemporary eco-friendly building can blend into its historic 
surroundings.  The gallery has extended the range of media the YSP can 
show, which now includes works on paper, light installations and video 
artworks.

Professor Lord Winston, chair of the 2006 judges, says:

"The panel have had a wonderful time visiting ten outstanding museums on 
the long list. Selecting only four for the short list was hard, but those 
chosen all show innovation, variety and excitement, and each is devoted to 
a special area of importance but with wide interest. This remarkable short 
list shows that the museum world in Britain is truly vibrant and alive. It 
has been a privilege for the judges to see the enthusiasm and pleasure that 
each of these museums generates amongst its visitors.."

The 2006 judging panel comprises:

Lord Robert Winston, esteemed scientist and broadcaster as Chair
Michael Day, Chief Executive, Historic Royal Palaces
Ekow Eshun, writer, journalist and broadcaster and artistic director of the 
ICA
Diane Lees, director of the V&A Museum of Childhood
Dr Elizabeth Mackenzie, Vice-Chair, British Association of Friends of 
Museums
Joanna Moorhead, journalist and author
Dan Snow, historian and broadcaster.
Dr Elizabeth Mackenzie, as a trustee of the ss Great Britain, has now stood 
down as a judge. She took no part in the judges? long-listing or 
short-listing discussions concerning ss Great Britain.

The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is, at £100,000, the biggest 
single arts prize in the UK and is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian 
Foundation. It is given annually to one museum or gallery, large or small, 
anywhere in the UK. The other museums on the longlist were the Cambridge & 
County Folk Museum, the Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms, Dorchester 
Abbey Museum, The Concorde Experience at the Museum of Flight, the National 
Waterfront Museum in Swansea and the Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre.
Of the four to be short-listed, The Collection, The Hunterian Museum and 
Brunel?s SS Great Britain have received funding from the Heritage Lottery 
Fund. Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, comments,

?The Gulbenkian Prize celebrates excellence and innovation in museums 
across the UK - this year the Heritage Lottery Fund is extremely proud to 
have funded three out of the four Gulbenkian finalists. This is an 
extremely diverse group of museums, spanning from maritime heritage to 
medical history. Each one is a worthy and fascinating nominee and I wish 
them all luck for the final decision.?

The winner will be announced during Museums and Galleries Month on Thursday 
May 25th at the Royal Institution of British Architects.

Last year?s winner was Big Pit: National Mining Museum of Wales in 
Blaenafon, a preserved coal mine where visitors can descend 300 feet 
underground to experience the working conditions that generations of miners 
endured daily. The 2004 winner was the landscape sculpture Landform by 
Charles Jencks at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. The 
inaugural prize was awarded to the National Centre for Citizenship and the 
Law at Nottingham?s Galleries of Justice in 2003 for the education 
programme it ran with schools, young offenders and the local community.

-ends-

www.thegulbenkianprize.org.uk


----------------------
R Silvester, School Chemistry
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