Museum’s exhibition Quake City on the Move

Museum’s exhibition Quake City on the Move

Quake City, the Museum’s special exhibition telling stories from the Canterbury earthquakes closes in Cashel Mall on 25 June and will reopen on the corner of Durham Street and Armagh Street in late August 2017.

Designed and curated by Canterbury Museum, the paid-for visitor attraction includes some of the objects which have defined the Canterbury earthquakes including the top of the ChristChurch Cathedral spire.

The exhibition which opened in February 2013 was developed following major interest from leading business and community groups in retaining an earthquake visitor experience in Christchurch, following a temporary exhibition held at the Museum in 2012.

Acting Museum Director, Jennifer Storer, says that visitors to the city are still very keen to learn about the earthquakes and to understand the impact on the Canterbury community. “We’ve welcomed more than 190,000 visitors to Quake City since opening. Based on current visitor numbers there was a very strong case to continue the exhibition elsewhere when the lease expired in Cashel Mall.”

The Museum has signed a three year lease, with three years’ right of renewal, on 495 sq metres on the ground floor of Avon West Ltd’s recently completed development at 299 Durham Street, leased by CBRE. Quake City’s new location is on the tram route and opposite the site of the new Science Alive!

Quake City will have a similar layout in its new premises, starting with the Māori legend of Rūaumoko (god of earthquakes). The exhibition then charts the aftermaths of the September 2010 and 22 February 2011 earthquakes, including the extraordinary response of the emergency services, international rescue teams, the thousands of volunteers who pitched in to help – construction workers, the Student Volunteer Army, the Farmy Army – and the incredible resilience of Canterbury’s communities. The rebuild section of the exhibition will be updated to reflect changes in the city over the last few years.

Quake City is currently rated ninth of 233 attractions in the Christchurch area listed on TripAdvisor, while the Museum, which opened in Rolleston Avenue in 1870, is rated sixth.

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