A new tourist attraction featuring a trio of museum experiences with cutting edge technology will open at the new Glass Works development in Barnsley.

Barnsley Museums @ The Glass Works will set up home in the forthcoming multi-million pound development and is thought to be the first Yorkshire museum to open in a purpose built shopping and retail centre.

It comes hot on the heels of the town’s Experience Barnsley attraction being announced as a finalist for the prestigious Art Fund National Museum of the Year Award, the world’s largest museum prize.

It will be joined by two temporary galleries including Barnsley Museums Digital @ The Glass Works which will surround visitors with an immersive 360 film and sound experience, transporting them to iconic Barnsley locations with the aim of encouraging more visitors to explore places across the borough.

And Barnsley Museums Gallery @ The Glass Works will act as a space showcasing exhibitions and pop-up experiences.

The museum will play host to collections focusing on Barnsley’s past, present and future, combining everything from its heritage and outdoors to art and sport.

A phased opening of The Glass Works is set to begin from this September and the trio of museum spaces hope to open their doors on a phased basis from October to November

Councillor Tim Cheetham, Barnsley Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Culture, said: “This is extremely exciting for the town and provides another platform for us to shout about Barnsley. By opening new museum sites and embracing cutting edge technology, we can showcase our entire borough’s past, present and future to a whole new audience.

“We always planned for The Glass Works to be a truly mixed use scheme, so by combining leisure, retail, food and drink with this enhanced culture offer in the heart of the town it gives more people more reasons to visit more often. That in turn gives us the chance to promote the entire town centre and also everywhere across our borough through these new experiences.”

More details on the new museums will be revealed in the coming weeks and the winner of the Art Fund Museum of the Year Award is due to be announced in September.

Barnsley’s town centre-based Experience Barnsley museum is a finalist alongside sites in Leeds, Londonderry, Colchester and Helmsdale.

See www.experience-barnsley.com and www.theglassworksbarnsley.com