New gallery will offer a rare peek at millions of treasures in the U of A's collections

From dinosaur bones to Group of Seven artworks, some of the University of Alberta's more than 10 million museum artifacts will be unearthed from storage and put on display at a new public art gallery.

Construction began in July on the Kenneth and Sandra Wong Gallery, a 5,000-square-foot facility at the Telus Centre on the university's North Campus.

At five times the size of the university's current exhibition space, the new public gallery will allow visitors to see the treasures held in the university's 30 museum collections.

"[There’s] something about the tactility of seeing something firsthand — ... not touching it but looking at it — that's really special,” said Dale Askey, the university's chief librarian.

“It makes you think about the world differently or you become curious about