City Museum gets facelift.

The Nairobi Museum has closed for extensive restructuring and expansion as part of an 8 million European Union-sponsored programme to improve museum facilities in Kenya. The project, which includes improvements to the exhibition space, construction of additional facilities including an administration block, gift shop and cafeteria and staff retraining, is scheduled for completion in June 2007. This is the first major intervention at the museum since it was established as the Coryndon Museum in honour of Sir Robert Coryndon, one-time governor of Kenya and a keen natural historian, in 1930. The museum, Kenyas largest and home to important collections of hominid fossils and cultural artifacts from the countrys 42 ethnic groups, is the centerpiece of the National Museums of Kenyas 16 facilities across the country. The museum currently receives up to 300.000 visitors a year, particularly during the August-March high season when congestion can be a problem. The snake park and the botanic garden in the grounds of the museum on Museum Hill will remain open during the renovation.