GLASGOW Life has been urged to save a much-loved city museum that is threatened by closure. 

A petition has been launched by Interfaith Glasgow calling on the city's cash-strapped culture and leisure body to keep St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life open. 

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There are fears the institution, opened in 1993, could be closed forever as a result of cuts authorities have made in the wake of an unprecedented drop in income due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The petitioners are calling on Glasgow Life to keep the city centre spot open and for religious leaders in the community to be consulted on any developments which concern its future. 

St Mungo's Museum was created with the aim of teaching visitors about world religions and promoting cross-faith understanding among Glasgow's diverse religious population. 

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It has been hailed as a "model" for other religious museums around the world. 

Many cultural venues in Glasgow are facing uncertainty amid plans to turn over some to community control because of a lack of funding. 

A spokeswoman for Glasgow Life said: ‘We recognise the very significant role St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art has played in the religious life of the city and the continued importance of the role Glasgow Museums can play, alongside partner organisations. We also recognise the importance of interfaith dialogue and are committed to continuing to support this.

“For some time now, indeed significantly prior to the pandemic, Glasgow Life has been talking to Glasgow City Council and partners on the Cathedral Precinct about how to work better together to improve the visitor experience to the medieval heart of the city and the Cathedral Precinct. The purpose of the conversation has been to think about how to work together to make best use of the buildings and outside spaces.

“These conversations have been useful but are inevitably taking time to find the best way to work together on an ongoing basis, no concrete proposals have been presented for consideration or approval.

“As a result of the impacts of the Covid, St Mungo Museum has been closed for the past year and the continued impact of the pandemic means that this will continue to be the case. We continue to recognise the strength of feeling there is about venues without reopening dates, but in the current climate it is unrealistic to expect that we can raise significant additional funding this year that will support the reopening of venues beyond those we have already announced. We are using this time to progress the discussions outlined above with partners and will update on progress at the first opportunity.”

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