Cash boost for portrait gallery

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One of Scotland's most historic art galleries has been given a £2m boost by the Monument Trust.

The award will go towards helping the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to open parts of its building which have been closed for 120 years.

The gallery said it had now raised 80% of the £17.5m required to complete the project.

It said it was confident of meeting its target in time to allow it to reopen in the autumn of 2011.

When it originally opened in 1889, the Edinburgh-based gallery broke new ground as the first national portrait gallery anywhere in the world.

It intends to double its floor space and open parts of the building which have previously been out of bounds to the public.

The gallery closed to the public in March and put its collection in storage. Construction work began last week.