DIMBOLA Museum and Galleries will be closing today (Wednesday), due to coronavirus.

It has also revealed that it has a new president - celebrated painter, art historian and teacher Julian Bell.

Announcing the closure, Brian Hinton, Chairman of the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust said: "We feel this is a necessary step to safeguard the wellbeing of our volunteers, staff and visitors, to whom we have a duty of care.

"We are entering unchartered waters, but rest assured the house is now almost fully renovated, and we will use the closed period, if allowed, to finish work on a complete kitchen and tearoom overhaul and landscaping the gardens.

"This is particularly sad as we were hugely looking forward to the Cross Currents exhibition, curated by Griselda Bear, and tracing links between Mrs Cameron, India, and Sri Lanka, and a full programme of talks, workshops and events.

"We intend to re-open as soon as we are told that it is safe to do so.

"Let us, as Julia always did, accentuate the positive."

The museum of photographic works, in Freshwater Bay, says it will update Islanders using its social media pages and newsletter.

New president Julian Bell is a direct descendant of Julia's sister Mia.

His mother Anne Olivier Bell made the trust a bequest of original photographs by Julia and her son HHH Cameron.