Home / Arts and Entertainment / Museum's Fashion Collection Reborn After Devastating Fire
Museum's Fashion Collection Reborn After Devastating Fire
28 Feb
Summary
- A 1976 bombing destroyed nearly all of the Ulster Museum's fashion collection.
- Only an 18th-century embroidered quilt survived the destructive blast.
- A new exhibition celebrates the collection's rebuilding over five decades.
A fire, ignited by two bombs in 1976 during a period of civil unrest, destroyed almost the entirety of the Ulster Museum's fashion collection. The extensive costume and textile items were stored at Malone House in Belfast when the attack occurred. Miraculously, a single 18th-century embroidered quilt, on display at the museum at the time, was the sole survivor.
Fifty years on, a new exhibition chronicles the successful effort to rebuild the collection from scratch. Art curator Elizabeth McCrum, who was involved in the initial rebuilding phase in 1978, expressed pride in the curators' achievements. She recalled the immense task of recreating a collection that had taken 70 years to accumulate, highlighting the loss of irreplaceable items like a late Elizabethan jacket.
