The Yorkshire Museum, one of the world's oldest purpose-built museums, has closed its doors to the public in order to allow a £2m refurbishment to get underway.

Plans for the attraction, as part of the Letting in the Light scheme, will result in a complete overhaul of its interior, which will place the city's Roman heritage at the centre of the new-look museum. New exhibitions will highlight the museum's medieval and natural history collections, while a new audio-visual experience will provide visitors with the chance to take a journey through York's history. A new learning area will also be created to act as an extension to the exhibits.

Edinburgh-based design companies Studio MB and Campbell and Co, as well as The One Off, have been appointed to design different sections of the museum as part of the revamp. York Museums Trust (YMT), which operates the Grade I-listed Yorkshire Museum, has received £200,000 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)/Wolfson Foundation to help fund the Letting in the Light project.

Renaissance in the Regions has awarded the scheme a £200,000 grant and the Monument Trust has contributed £300,000, while the City of York Council has agreed to provide a further £800,000 if match funding can be secured. YMT chief executive Janet Barnes said: "The Yorkshire Museum is home to a thousand stories, which can be told through some of the most significant archaeological finds and scientific collections in Europe.

It is the aim of York Museums Trust to give such objects and stories their deserved place in a museum that can inspire the 21st Century visitor. With this investment we hope create such a space to proudly show off York's treasures and also to refurbish the fabulous interior of this Grade I-listed building which has been hidden for many years." Meanwhile, the first stage of a renovation scheme at the City of York Council's York Library has started in a bid to transform the venue into the city's third Explore centre to provide local residents with increased and improved learning facilities.