Dunfermline welcomed its new, but strangely familiar, cultural hub this week.
The £12 million Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries has a history almost as long as it name.
The foundation of the world’s first Carnegie public library – the base of the complex – was laid in the 19th Century.
It seemed at times that plans to give Dunfermline a museum worthy of its place in Scotland’s history took almost as long.
As Fife Cultural Trust chief executive Heather Stuart said on the eve of its opening: “It’s been a long journey to get here.”
But get there they did.
So now Scotland’s ancient capital has a cultural hub incorporating a world first and a contemporary gallery which makes the most of its unique setting beside Dunfermline Abbey and Palace and Abbot House.
As a rather cynical reporter there’s a tendency to only believe something when you see it.
This daughter of Dunfermline thought – wrongly – we’d get a “nice” perfectly adequate museum. And that would be that.
But what Dunfermline has been gifted is a million miles away from what I was expecting.
This is a building – which, remember had already won two architectural awards before it even opened – exceeds all expectations.
It’s not just a building fit for Dunfermline, it’s one which would not look out of place in any major city.
I just hope the people of Dunfermline, Fife, and beyond, agree.
And come and see it, use it, and return time and time again.
Now I am a bit of a museum fan. And of historic buildings in general.
I’m someone who’ll find myself with a tick list of “must see” places to visit while on holiday at home or abroad.
But like many people, does that extend to what’s right below my nose?
Sometimes we all fail to appreciate what is on our doorstep.
We’ll beat a path to the Louvre, or Tate Modern, or Metropolitan Museum of Art, but we’ll not bother with a short walk to see our own treasures.
We should all maybe take a leaf out of local councillor Jim Leishman’s book when he talks of his appreciation of the historical heart of Dunfermline “every time I walk through the town”.
Many people have talked of it being not just a library, or a gallery, or a museum, but a social hub.
So, Dunfermline, it’s up to you.
Breathe life into it.
It deserves no less.
