The Ulster Museum in Belfast will officially reopen today (22 Oct) following a three-year, £17m renovation, 80 years to the day since it was first opened.

The new look museum – operated by National Museums Northern Ireland – boasts collections on archaeology, applied art, fine art, history, world cultures, animal life, plant life and minerals rocks and fossils.

A new 23m high atrium entrance was also built, as well as a café and a restaurant.

Tim Cooke, director of National Museums Northern Ireland, said: “The Ulster Museum’s rejuvenation has been radical and deliberate, designed not just to improve and develop the building, galleries and visitor facilities but also to allow new ways of exploring the collections and engaging with learning while offering both space and activity for reflection and creativity.”

As reported in Leisure Opportunities in February this year, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly threatened to take legal action if the museum refused to showcase a display on Creationism alongside its Darwin exhibition.

A spokesperson said at the time: ““Within the permanent science galleries we will explain the conventional scientific theories internationally accepted by scholars and scientists to describe life on earth from the earliest evidence of fossils.

“This is consistent with approaches taken by museums of renown across the world.”