Donation follows hosting of 'Canterbury Quakes' show

The building is being used temporarily to provide secure premises for Canterbury heritage artefacts, some of international significance. Photo / Geoff Sloan

Shortly after hosting a successful "Canterbury Quakes" touring exhibition, the Otago Museum is donating $10,000 to help with the restoration and storage of earthquake-damaged heritage artefacts in Canterbury.

The funding will help support the work of the Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre, which has been established in a new extension building at the Air Force Museum in Wigram, Christchurch.

The building is being used temporarily to provide secure premises for Canterbury heritage artefacts, some of international significance.

The Otago exhibition had attracted more than 65,000 visits by the time it ended last month.

The exhibits have already been moved north to the Rotorua Museum, where the show will open on June 21, as part of a planned three-year national tour.

The "Canterbury Quakes" exhibition, which was developed by the Canterbury Museum and opened at the Otago Museum last November, has proved a highly emotional experience for many visitors.

Museum staff were given further training to support some visitors, who were strongly affected by the show and memories it evoked, particularly those relating to the February 22, 2011, quake, which resulted in 185 deaths.