In pictures: Dome comes home as historic Olympia theatre in Glasgow restored to former glory

A HISTORIC theatre and cinema in Glasgow’s East End had its five-ton dome restored yesterday as part of a £10 million regeneration project.

The Olympia building will welcome the public from this autumn, but its dome was restored ahead of time as part of a project by Clyde Gateway, the regeneration agency responsible for the East End of the city.

The Olympia will reopen as a public library, café and office space, and will also house the headquarters of the national governing body for amateur boxing, 100 years after it was built.

The dome was removed in June last year for restoration, much of which centred on preserving the building’s wooden cupola in its original timber.

Built as a theatre in 1911, the building also served as a cinema for 50 years. It lay derelict for almost two decades and was severely damaged by fire in 2004.

Its purchase by Clyde Gateway was the first time the building had been in public ownership.