A treasure trove of Old Master paintings to get new art gallery and cafe
Work has begun on the popular Caboolture-based Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology’s newest visitor experiences.
The new Abbey Art Gallery and Museum Café will showcase for the first time some of the venue’s most important artworks dating back to the medieval and renaissance periods.
Funded through the Regional Tourism Recovery Program (RTRP), the works are expected to be completed in June next year.
Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology Board Chair Edith Cuffe said the new facilities, connected to the established museum, were expected to attract an additional 7,000 visitors in the first year of operation.
Ms Cuffe said the extension would allow the venue to share its unseen collection of Renaissance and Baroque artworks for the first time.
“Many date from the 1400s and include a Rubens and fresco fragment from Milan cathedral,” she said.
“Residents of South East Queensland will have European art history on their doorstep as well as an international collection of objects spanning one million years.”
Ms Cuffe said funding from the RTRP had allowed the venue to realise its dream of building an art gallery and cafe.
The Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology also holds the nearby Abbey Medieval Festival, attracting more than 20,000 visitors to the Moreton Bay Region every July.