The Opening Up The Soane project means the Lincoln Inn’s Fields museum now has more exhibition space, step-free access to all floors, improved information for visitors and enhanced displays. Learning opportunities have also been greatly improved.

Established in 1812-13 in the neo-classical architect’s London home, the museum is an eccentric collection of fascinating artefacts and artworks.

[quote=Bruce Boucher, Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum]“This is a momentous day in the history of the Soane Museum.”[/quote]

Bruce Boucher, Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum, said: “This is a momentous day in the history of the Soane Museum. Our extensive restoration work over the past seven years has reinstated all of Soane’s spaces which were lost over the decades following his death – many of them thought to be lost forever. 

"Now, following the completion of this third and final phase of Opening Up The Soane, visitors can fully experience the Museum as Sir John Soane intended.”

HLF contributed more than £1million to a £7m project that has made possible the restoration of Soane’s private apartments and architectural model room, a new temporary exhibition gallery and shop and the reinstatement of a number of rooms and the original kitchens that had been closed to the visiting public.

Welcoming more visitors

Improved circulation means the four-storey town house can now welcome 33% more visitors and display more of Soane’s captivating collection, some being seen for the first time since Soane’s death in 1837.  

HLF is also supporting the museum by contributing £2m to an endowment programme designed to secure its long-term future.