Portsmouth's Round Tower opens as an art gallery

A new art gallery opens tomorrow in one of Portsmouth’s most historic locations – the 15^th Century Round Tower in Old Portsmouth.

The Round Tower was one of the first fortifications to be built in Portsmouth and dates back to 1418. Although the tower itself stood empty since the Council bought it in the 1960’s, the Point Battery artists have used the arches nearby to display artwork for many years.

An artists impression of the finished development

The Artches project run by Portsmouth City Council, earmarked the area including the tower for development earlier this year. It hopes to ‘animate the built heritage of the seafront’ in Portsmouth. The Round Tower is the first of its buildings to be opened as a gallery space.

It will be displaying work from over 30 local creatives and the first exhibition will be ‘Strong Island’. Strong Island already have a big following on the internet as a site set up to ‘promote, showcase and inform people about Portsmouth’. 

Portsmouth University have been heavily involved with the project. The curator, Clare Sambrook, a senior lecturer in creative technologies at the university, plans to use the opening to promote her book ‘Creative Portsmouth’.

The gallery will be open Tuesday to Sunday and will be free of charge. The ‘Strong Island’ exhibition runs from Saturday to 3 May. A special preview night will be held on Friday night. 

More information on the gallery and its exhibitions, visit: http://www.theroundtower.co.uk/

For more information on Clare Sambrook and her book visit: http://www.port.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/frontpagenews/title,125372,en.html

The Strong Island exhibition poster