Museum spreads its wings

THE Rotorua Museum will open the new Don Stafford Wing this weekend, finally marking the completion of its $22 million Centennial Development project.

While work started on the project more than six years ago, it has taken a journey of more than 100 years to complete the iconic Bath House building in which the Rotorua Museum is housed.

Since opening in 1908, Rotorua's famous Bath House has evolved from its origins as the Great South Seas Spa to the highly respected status it enjoys today as one of New Zealand's leading regional museums.

Museum director Greg McManus said a range of new exhibitions and a special function would be held to mark the occasion.

"The finished building, based on the original vision of balneologist Arthur Stanley Wohlmann, has certainly been worth the wait.

"With 55 per cent more public gallery space and a whole range of new exhibitions, we have taken the visitor experience to a truly world class level," he said.

The new signature exhibition, Nga Pumanawa o Te Arawa - The Beating Hearts of Te Arawa, uses innovative displays, iconic taonga (treasures), and stunning design to follow the journey of the Arawa people, the original inhabitants of the area, from their homeland in Hawaiki to their descendants in Rotorua today.

In addition, the museum now boasts five state-of-the-art changing exhibition spaces, including two new galleries on Level 1 of the South Wing extension.

The new Southern Trust Gallery will feature Blomfield in Wonderland.

Famous for his paintings of the Pink and White Terraces, the exhibition illustrates how Charles Blomfield's art focused on more than just the scenic wonders of Rotorua. In the new Chamber of Commerce Gallery, A Catalogue of Wonders features a selection of works from the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust Heritage Collection.

Saturday's official opening will actually begin tomorrow with a dawn blessing of taonga in the new Don Stafford Wing by the people of Te Arawa.

Te Arawa descendants and people of Rotorua are invited to attend the Ta i te Kawa ceremony to officially open the new wing, starting at 5.45am.

Descendants and hapu of taonga in each gallery and a representative of B Company 28th Maori Battalion will perform a karakia (blessing) for the galleries.