Greener Galleries

Recently, the Museum completed the installation of a Burne-Jones stained glass panel, St. Matthew (2009.2.31) in the Modern Gallery. A new case was designed and constructed, and after a number of months of prototyping by the Curatorial and Operations departments, the display was lit completely with LED lights, with the desired lighting effect achieved using a combination of both cool and warm LED fixtures.

This is our first glass collection display to use LED lighting, and we hope to retro-fit a number of other displays in the coming years with these cool and efficient lights. There are approximately 2,600 standard light fixtures directed at objects in our galleries, and every day we change about 20 bulbs. With an estimated lifespan 100,000 hours, moving to LED lighting will result in savings for the Museum in both energy costs and staff time.

-Warren Bunn, Registrar