Calgary's Glenbow Museum is now set to reopen in 2027
Calgary’s Glenbow Museum is set to reopen in 2027 after closing its doors in 2021 to undergo a massive transformation.
The museum was originally expected to reopen in mid-2024, but the timeline was moved to 2026, which was listed on its website earlier this week before it was changed to a pegged opening date of 2027.
According to the Glenbow Museum’s website, the revamped space will feature 44 exhibitions, displays, and installations across eight floors and 325,000 square feet of space. The museum is home to over 250,000 works of art and holds one of the largest public art collections in Western Canada.
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Located on the corner of 1st Street SE and Stephen Avenue, the renovated building will now be known as the JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture, in recognition of a $35 million donation from the Shaw Family Foundation.
Thanks to the donation, visitors will no longer have to pay to get in, making it the first major museum in Canada to offer free general admission. “This initiative will make Glenbow more accessible than ever, inviting more people into the museum to explore, learn, and connect,” Glenbow Museum’s website reads.
New features coming to the museum include a brand-new entrance on Stephen Avenue, a theatre, a shop, and a restaurant. It will also be getting a 13,000 sq. ft. rooftop patio with a pavilion, offering year-round enjoyment.
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Floors five, six, and seven were previously used as storage spaces and will now have expansive windows and be open to the public for the first time ever, allowing more collections to be viewable more often.
The eighth floor of the building will include a conservation lab, giving visitors the opportunity to see how conservators maintain and preserve art.
You can read more about the museum’s transformation online.