Five months after the discovery of asbestos led to the closure of Auckland Museum, it has finally reopened the doors to the majority of its main attractions, including the cherished volcano house.
Remediation work to get rid of the asbestos could exceed $10 million, while a 10 percent decline in visitor numbers had left the museum with no choice but to disestablish 31 roles.
But it is hoped the re-opening will help bring the museum back to life.
The smell of floor polish filled the air of the 1929 grand foyer at Auckland Museum's northern entrance, ready to welcome visitors back on Thursday morning.
Those that spoke to Checkpoint said they were thrilled to be back.
"Especially for kids, because you want to be able to do a lot more of the museum," one visitor said.
Another said they had been counting down to the reopening: "Oh, it's fabulous yes, because it's a beautiful building and yeah, it should encourage a few more people to come.
"[We've] not been for so long we're going to go and have a look."
One of the displays, on Thursday, the museum's reopening day. Photo: RNZ/ Marika Khabazi
The museum's head of safety and visitor services Matthew Crumpton was thrilled to take the "closed" stickers off gallery entrances this morning.
"It's been a bit of a journey for us, but we are really proud and happy to open our doors again to Aucklanders and international visitors.
"All the galleries that we can have back open today our visitors have been desperate for."
Photo: RNZ/ Marika Khabazi
A crowd favourite that you often hear before you see is the Mataaho Volcano gallery, now open once more with a few surprise tweaks and improvements in store.
"We've got a brand new cloud, we've got some animations that will really surprise our visitors, and the volcano house - even more eruption for you to experience," Crumpton told Checkpoint.
Auckland Museum chief executive David Reeves said the team had put in long hours to get the museum back to normal.
David Reeves Photo: RNZ/ Marika Khabazi
"It was quite an industrial landscape there for a while, while we carefully cleaned all the surfaces and did all the appropriate testing and have been able to put everything back in its rightful place ready for visitors to come in today."
However, the Māori and Pacific galleries are still closed due to the asbestos risk, with no reopening date set yet.
That means the museum is losing crucial funding from international tourists, with a 10 percent drop in visitors predicted this financial year - on top of the asbestos bill which could cost more than $10m.
Photo: RNZ/ Marika Khabazi
Reeves said the lack of visitors meant they had no choice but to to disestablish 31 roles, 14 of those were already vacant, to save around $2.5m a year.
"It's been a tough exercise to go through but we are confident that we're in a good shape now to carry on."
The museum hopes to draw in big visitor numbers on Labour Weekend, with selected tours being offered free of charge.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
