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Urbis move could 'ruin' museum treasures
The national Football Museum's proposed move from Preston to Manchester would put some of the game's priceless relics at risk, it has been claimed.
Manchester's glass-walled Urbis exhibition centre is currently an unsuitable choice to host the valuable exhibits, currently on display in Preston, because it lets in too much sunlight.
City bosses have admitted they would have to spend cash
on a revamp for Urbis if the museum does move to Manchester.
The Evening Post has learned that the site, which features
2,200 glass panes, currently has no protection against ultra-violet
(UV) rays whatsoever, while sunlight exposure could be at a premium.
The National Football Museum holds rare world football artefacts including the only surviving version of the original Jules Rimet World Cup trophy and the ball from England's historic 1966 World Cup final win.
The museum's director, Kevin Moore, has admitted
there are "issues" relating to harmful sunlight and UVlevels.
Ann Stewart, head of paper, painting and frames conservation
at the National Conservation Centre in Liverpool, said of
Urbis: "Certainly if it's all glass and not UV protected, there
would be a risk of discolouration and yellowing of the paper.
"We would take light and UV readings and generally for paper
objects, we don't let them display at more than 50 lux (light
level measurement)."
In comparison, direct sunlight can attract measurements of up to 130,000 lux – even reaching 1,000 lux on an overcast day.
The expert added: "With football programmes it does depend on how old they are – generally, they wouldn't be on very good paper which would make the problem even worse."
She said there could be ways to tackle the problems such as
placing programmes in cases, using non-acidic card and materials,
placing items in polyester wrapping, avoiding permanent displays, modifying the glass to shut out harmful UV and displaying
photocopies instead such as with newspapers – but these measures
would come at a price.
She added: "It wouldn't be very long if they are exposed to permanent sunlight before they are damaged. You wouldn't necessarily notice they have changed as the whole thing would change overall.
"It depends on the level of light but it can take years – but
sometimes if it's on very poor paper it can happen very quickly.
"Guarding against this can be quite consuming in terms of
staff time and the materials are fairly expensive."
Mr Moore at the Deepdale museum said he was aware of the potential problem.
He said: "We are aware of those issues and if we were to
proceed with it, of course adaptations would need to be made
to protect the artefacts."
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said:
"Clearly elements of Urbis would have to be re-fitted to house the exhibits we are looking
at."
A spokesman for Urbis said: "We don't have UV measures currently in place."
Preston Council leader Coun Ken Hudson said: "Moving to Urbis could be a disaster for not only Preston, but for the collections, and I'm sure a number of people who own the collections will not want their possessions jeopardised in conditions which are unsatisfactory."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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