Huntingdon will be more attractive to visitors this summer as a result of a special art project by the town’s Cromwell Museum.

Replicas of artworks from the museum’s internationally important collection will be installed in a temporary exhibition which creates an outdoor trail around the town following the receipt of a grant from the Art Fund.

Large-scale vinyl graphics will also cover vacant shop units in Chequers Court as part of a bid to cheer the town up after the coronavirus pandemic.

The scheme is set to be launched in April and the images will be in place for around three months.

Stuart Orme, curator of the museum, dedicated to the life and times of Oliver Cromwell, said: “We house an internationally important collection of 17th Century art and this project aims to take some of these works and install full-sized replicas of them for a temporary exhibition around the town.

“This is designed to create an outdoor trail to add interest to shoppers and visitors in these dark times, provide access to some of these artworks to people who may not have seen them before outdoors in places that can therefore be socially distanced and Covid-safe, to encourage footfall to the town, we have support from the Art Fund for national public relations, and to help promote the museum.”

Mr Orme added: “The replicas will be full-sized but made from durable materials that are weather and vandal resistant, and then fixed to existing fittings - railings, drainpipes - along with a small explanatory plaque.

“In some cases, such as vacant shop units in Chequers Court, we are instead putting large scale vinyl graphics to cover one or more windows that will again produce large scale artworks.”


Mr Orme said a trail leaflet, school resources, web pages and a mobile phone trail using the SMARTIFY app, would be produced to guide people around the sites.

He said the aim was to launch the project in April, ready for Easter, and then have the artworks installed for a period of three months.