Two prominent Perthshire museums to remain closed until next year due to social distancing issues

A pair of prominent Perthshire museums will remain closed until next year because it is too expensive or impossible to implement social distancing measures in the buildings.

The Fergusson Gallery in Perth and Alyth Museum will not reopen their doors until 2021, despite lockdown restrictions lifting for the venues on Saturday.

Helen Smout, chief executive of Culture Perth and Kinross, which manages the galleries, explained there were a number of challenges facing such centres.

“We’re really sad about it but there’s no way to make it work. Alyth, we just couldn’t open as we just couldn’t do social distancing.

“And there’s the additional costs which are expensive, costs we just didn’t have before this.

“It’s also the timing. If we had come out of lockdown in April or May (then they could have opened) but we didn’t.

“We’re also seeing a lot lower numbers of people coming back, people are being cautious, they’re choosing very carefully where they go.

“We’re trying to balance a lot of things and we hope our customers bear with us and understand that some things might never return to the way they were.”

The chief executive was speaking as Perth Museum and Art Gallery reopened to the public with a new exhibition featuring artists from across Tayside and Fife.

Work by prominent Tayside and Fife artists to help relaunch Perth Museum as it reopens after lockdown

Ms Smout said: “Like everyone, we are stepping into the unknown.

“We’ve put in a lot of work to make sure the visitors experience is safe but also that it is still a museum experience. But it is a different way of working.”

The Scottish Crannog Centre in Highland Perthshire also reopened its doors on Saturday for the first time in four months with a new Stone Stories installation in partnership with Pitlochry Theatre.

A spokesperson for the centre said: “For many of us, these past few months have been spent looking at grids as we video call our loved ones and colleagues during the lockdown.

“Inspired by this, we will be building a piece of art made up of a grid of stones that have been decorated by visitors using natural materials that remind them of a place or moment in time from this year.”