THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

The academy of the new church first established a museum in 1878 for the purpose of using artifacts as instructive illustrations of ancient religion and mythology. With the gift of glencairn, the former home of raymond and mildred pitcairn, and raymond pitcairn's personal art collections to the academy of the new church in 1980, the academy museum's collection were merged with those of the pitcairn family and moved to glencairn to create glencairn museum, which opened to the public in january 1982. As the academy's museum, glencairn museum's mission has essentially remained unchanged since 1878-to interpret art and artifacts from a range of historical periods and cultures-past and present-as expressions of religious belief and practice, with a special focus on stewarding and interpreting art and artifacts that illustrate new church beliefs and practices. The museum's current mission statement, approved by the academy of the new church's board of trustees in june 2024 is "to create an intentional space that invites visitors to encounter religious art and artifacts as expressions of spiritual beliefs and practices. In stewarding and interpreting the collection and historic home, the museum places a particular emphasis on art and artifacts that reflect the beliefs and practices of the new church (swedenborgian christian) and the history of glencairn, a national historical landmark."glencairn museum is recognized internationally for its remarkable collection of medieval sculpture and stained glass, purchased by pitcairn as inspirational models for the artists and craftsmen who were building and decorating bryn athyn cathedral. In addition to its renowned medieval collection, glencairn houses art and artifacts from the ancient near east, ancient egypt, and classical greece and rome, with modest asian, islamic, and indigenous american collections. As a member of the academy of the new church, glencairn museum is associated with bryn athyn college and the academy of the new church secondary schools. In october 2008, glencairn, cairnwood, bryn athyn cathedral, and cairncrest were designated a national historic landmark district by the secretary of the interior. As defined by the national park service, national landmarks are places that "have meaning for all americans." the four buildings of the bryn athyn historic district-including glencairn-were honored for their use of unique designs, symbolism, and building materials at the highest national achievement.glencairn regularly offers guided tours, permanent and temporary exhibitions, annual festivals, workshops, concerts, lectures, and special events for the general public, as well as educational programs for both the schools of the academy of the new church and local and regional schools, including elementary, secondary, home school, college, and university programs. Through educational programs and internships, glencairn museum serves as a valuable educational resource for bryn athyn college and the academy of the new church secondary schools.glencairn museum temporarily closed its doors to the public in may 2022 to complete a comprehensive infrastructure replacement, including heating, electrical supply, domestic water, and air conditioning as part of its ongoing stewardship of glencairn as a historic landmark and of the museum collection. The museum reopened to the public in november 2023 upon successful completion of this project. Since reopening, the museum has returned to its full schedule of exhibitions, public tours, educational programs, concerts, and other programming.

Mixed use facilities