The closure of such a popular and well-loved institution as the University of Oxford’s Museum of Natural History for an entire year is obviously regrettable.
Six hundred thousand people a year pass through the doors of the Grade I-listed building, whose displays seek to tell the story of life on Earth.
But a leaky roof needs to be fixed and when the roof is as spectacular as this one it is small wonder that the planned work is estimated to cost more than £2m and will result in more than three-quarters of the museum under scaffolding.
On the bright side, the museum is planning a series of outreach activities to take parts of the museum collections out into the community while the work progresses.
Anyone who has visited the museum during heavy rain will recall picking their way around strategically-placed buckets. Hopefully, in time they will be consigned to the past.
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