YORK City Art Gallery is to close for six months while it gets a revamp - thanks to a £272,700 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

Residents are being invited to have a last look round the gallery before it closes for refurbishment work on June 6. It will reopen on January 29 next year - the York Residents First weekend.

In addition, York Museums Trust is to open a new contemporary art venue this summer at York St Mary's, the de-consecrated church in Castlegate which once housed the York Story attraction.

The former church will host an installation-based exhibition on the theme of light, which will run from July to October.

Janet Barnes, chief executive of York Museums Trust, said: "Our new contemporary art venue at York St Mary's will offer something exciting, new and different in the heart of the city for both residents and tourists."

Work at the gallery will include a refurbishment of the ground floor, which will be converted into a space for temporary exhibitions. A new lighting rig and wall covering will be installed. A learning area will be created where the gallery shop currently is. There will also be improvements to the public toilets.

It is hoped that a display showing plans for the improvement work will be mounted during the bank holiday week, starting on May 29.

While the work is being carried out, York Museums Trust also hopes to create a caf in the gallery foyer, which would spill out into Exhibition Square, as well as a new shop at the back of the ground floor. Planning permission will be required for this work.

The gallery's existing art collection will be redistributed. There will also be an exhibition of quilts from the York Museum Trust textiles collection.

Ms Barnes said: "We are thrilled about the work which we have planned for York Art Gallery.

"We hope that our visitors will bear with us during the refurbishment period and will like the new look when we reopen."

Updated: 10:52 Monday, April 19, 2004