Kirkcudbright Galleries welcomes more than 30,000 people to see the Galloway Hoard

More than 30,000 people have now taken the chance to enjoy the Galloway Hoard at Kirkcudbright Galleries.

Items from the £2 million find, discovered on church land near Balmaghie in 2014, went on display at the gallery in October.

And it has now proven to be the most successful exhibition at the venue since it opened in 2018.

Chairman of the council’s communities committee, Councillor Archie Dryburgh, said: “This landmark figure of 30,000 visitors is a great yardstick for why our council worked so hard to host this wonderful exhibition.

“Despite the exhibition ‘coming home’ in the middle of a pandemic, the visitor numbers that the Hoard exhibition has attracted is a real positive for our fantastic Kirkcudbright Galleries, as well as the region as a whole.”

The hoard is touring thanks to support from the Scottish Government and will be on display in Kirkcudbright until July 10.

Director of National Museums Scotland, Dr Chris Breward, said: “We are delighted at the success of Galloway Hoard: Viking-age Treasure, both in the number of visitors it has attracted and the hugely positive public response to the exhibition.

Gold objects from the Galloway Hoard. (National Museums Scotland)

“It has been a pleasure to work with our colleagues at Kirkcudbright Galleries and we look forward to continuing our collaboration around the Galloway Hoard for many years to come.”

After leaving Kirkcudbright, the hoard will be displayed in a series of exhibitions around Scotland.

It will then return to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, with an agreement between the body and Dumfries and Galloway Council seeing a “significant and representative” part of the hoard go on permanent display in Kirkcudbright.

But South Scotland MSP, Colin Smyth, has called on it to have a “meaningful, permanent home” in the region.

He said: “This find was a huge deal for the area and it is clearly something that people are willing to travel to see.

“Whether it is displayed in Edinburgh will make no difference whatsoever to visitor numbers at the national museum and have no effect on the economy in the capital, but displaying it in Kirkcudbright clearly does.

“Having it in the region permanently would be a huge boost to tourism and the local economy in the wake of the pandemic, and I will continue to press for the hoard to have a proper, permanent, substantial presence.”