Athlone gallery completed ahead of schedule

A glass block, white space gallery on the banks of the Shannon at Athlone, which cost €3.5m, is completed ahead of its official opening date of Nov 29.

And it’s also the first purpose-built gallery of its kind in the Midlands, as well as being the first new visual art gallery to be opened in the country in over three years.

The new building, an extension onto the 19th century, Father Matthew Hall, was designed by leading international architect, Keith Williams, who also created the civic offices and library buildings in the town, as well as the Army Memorial there, within the last ten years.