WINNIPEG -- There is a lot of excitement at the Manitoba Museum, where the new Winnipeg Gallery is set to open on Friday.
Work has been feverish over the past few months to get ready for the big day. Part of that work includes restoring a very special piece of the city’s history -- a stained glass Winnipeg sign that used to be on display at the old City Hall. It's been hidden away from public view at the museum.
"That has been in our collection since the 1960's, but it's never been seen before," said Manitoba Museum curator, Roland Sawatzky.
The Winnipeg sign isn't unique in that regard. The museum only has about 10 per cent of its artifacts on display. But more are about to see the light of day.
For the first time since 2003, a completely new gallery is opening at the museum. It's called "The Winnipeg Gallery" and it will exclusively feature the city of Winnipeg and its history.
"We want to bring the story of Winnipeg right up to the present," said Sawatzky. "And include everybody who made this city what it is."
Telling that story has taken a tremendous amount of work and effort.
In the case of the Winnipeg sign -- it's lucky it's being done now. It might not have emerged unscathed if it had stayed in storage for too much longer.
"It was starting to distort," said Matthew McMillan from Prairie Studio Glass. "The sheer weight of the panel itself was crushing itself very slowly."
Luckily Prairie Studio Glass was available to help restore the sign to its former glory. Very carefully, surface dust and grime was cleaned away.
Then the putty surrounding each individual piece of glass was scraped off.
Next, those individual pieces had to be put back together, like a jigsaw puzzle.
"We were very tedious in that we numbered each individual piece as the window was broken down," said McMillan. "And it has a number associated with it on the pattern we created from the original window."
All this, so the new and improved sign can take its place in the Winnipeg Gallery.
"This is such a large, and impressive piece," said museum conservator Carolyn Sirett. "It's really nice to get them out of our storage and on display for the public."
You won't have to wait long to see it for yourself. The new Winnipeg Gallery opens to the public on Friday, Nov. 1.
