The McLean Museum and Art Gallery (now officially the Watt Institution) is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

and

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

situated in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

Inverclyde Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the histo ...

, Scotland. It is the main museum in the Inverclyde area, it is free to visit and was opened in 1876. Most notably it features an exhibition of items related to

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

, the Greenock-born inventor, a Mummy

Cartonnage Cartonnage (word of French origin) is a type of material used in ancient Egyptian funerary masks from the First Intermediate Period to the Roman era. It was made of layers of linen or papyrus covered with plaster. Some of the Fayum mummy portrait ...

from

Herakleopolis Magna Heracleopolis Magna ( grc-gre, Μεγάλη Ἡρακλέους πόλις, ''Megálē Herakléous pólis'') and Heracleopolis (, ''Herakleópolis'') and Herakleoupolis (), is the Roman name of the capital of the 20th nome of ancient Upper Eg ...

and a collection of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and Scottish

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

. The principal entrance to the museum is on Kelly Street, in the

Greenock West Greenock West, also known simply as the ''West End'', is an area of Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland. The streets are in a grid like layout referred to as ''blocks'' as opposed to the irregular street patterns elsewhere in the town. Union Street ...

area. The forme4r Curator is Val Boa. The Watt Institution includes the Art Gallery, Watt Hall, Watt Library and Inverclyde Archives.

History

The Museum owes its origins to the Greenock Philosophical Society's burgeoning collection of artificial and natural curiosities which became a museum in 1816 as branch of the Society, housed in the Greenock library. When the Greenock Library changed location to the

Watt Library The Watt Library or Watt Monument Library in Greenock, Scotland, opened on its current site in 1837 and was the direct descendant of the Greenock Library, a subscription library founded in 1783. It closed as a subscription library in 1971 and re ...

, Society members added "autographs, maps, prints, coins, medals, and armour to the collection." The Society sent a report to local ship owners and masters to generate interest in the museum's collection in the hope of receiving donations. In 1863 work began on building a lecture hall and museum building, funded by local timber merchant James McLean, who was also a member of the Philosophical Society. The new building was completed by 3 November 1876, but James McLean was unable to attend the opening due to ill health (although he still managed to visit and inspect the Museum's contents), later dying in January of the next year. Thomas Struthers, a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and naturalist from Glasgow was the Museum's first

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

. In its early years the Museum was loaned items from other museums, such as the Albert Museum and

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in return that it would lend parts of its collection to these national museums for their exhibitions.

Collections

There is a range of collections and exhibitions in the Museum. Until 1914 the McLean Museum received continuing donation from the

Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization. The society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and ana ...

, which provided the Museum with many items for its

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

collection, including a Mummy

from

and the temple stone from the Great Temple of Bast at

Bubastis Bubastis ( Bohairic Coptic: ''Poubasti''; Greek: ''Boubastis'' or ''Boubastos''), also known in Arabic as Tell-Basta or in Egyptian as Per-Bast, was an ancient Egyptian city. Bubastis is often identified with the biblical ''Pi-Beseth'' ( he ...

. Also hosted is an

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

collection including various finds such as

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

ceramic pieces, a group of 10 Palaeolithic flint implements from Milton Street, Kent and Palaeolithic stone axes from Ireland. The

collection includes "plans and letters written by James Watt, tools and items used by him and images of him in the form of paintings, sculpture, prints and books." Also featured is a history of

, a

Maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

Transport collection, social history material, and exhibitions of Scottish and British artwork. Some items from the collection can be viewed online.

Visiting the Museum

In 2016, Inverclyde Council closed the McLean Museum and Watt Library complex in order to undertake a £2 million refurbishment. The Council invested £1.8 million towards the refurbishment work alongside a £287,000 grant from

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the mer ...

. As part of the refurbishment, the gallery, museum, lecture hall and library were rebranded collectively as the Watt Institution, with access to and from the library now possible via the museum entrance on Kelly Street. The complex re-opened to visitors on 22 November 2019. The complex opens on Wednesdays to Saturdays, from 10am to 4pm (having previously also been open on Mondays and Tuesdays). Admission is free. There is a lack of significant designated parking area, although parking on the surrounding streets should be possible. The Museum is a short walk away from

Greenock West railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = File:Greenock West station 210708d platform 1.jpg , caption = View west from under Inverkip Street to footbridge, aqueduct and Newton Street tunnel , ...

and also nearby to Greenock town centre. Free tours from the Museum's curatorial staff are available, however, pre-booking is required. There is also a shop which stocks a variety of items including books, cards, toys, museum standard replicas, decorative and craft items. Free internet access is also available.

References

External links

McLean Museum
on the Inverclyde Council Website {{authority control Museums in Inverclyde Buildings and structures in Greenock Local museums in Scotland Art museums and galleries in Scotland Egyptological collections in Scotland Musical instrument museums Natural history museums in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Inverclyde Listed museum buildings in Scotland Museums established in 1876 1876 establishments in Scotland

History

Collections

Visiting the Museum

See also

References

External links