THE upper floors of the museum are home to more than just Egyptian artefacts, new homes have been created for the modern art and natural sciences collections.

Crescent and collections manager Sam Elliott showed The Bolton News around the spaces which have been completely overhauled.

The modern art collection includes sections called The Place We Live and The Stages of Life housed in what used to be the Egyptian gallery.

Ms Elliott said one of the notable pieces in the collection was Nearing Camp, Evening on the Upper Colorado River, Wyoming, 1882 by Thomas Moran. She said: “The people of Bolton bought it and I think they would expect us to have it on display.”

The open and airy space also includes Polaroids by Andy Warhol and an etching of artist Richard Hamilton by David Hockney.

Ms Elliott was particularly drawn to the Stages of Life sections, she said: “We have all different people ­— I love how there’s the new with the older, because people are people whatever age. There’s something wonderful about faces.”

The natural sciences exhibit sits on the mezzanine above the local history section. The floors has been completely re-done and is an interesting and informative look at the natural world.

It features fun elements borrowed from popular culture like Super Mario, comic strips, fairies and mermaids to entrance children.

The collection features a five metre long python skin, a grizzly bear and a footprint purportedly from the elusive Beast of Bolton.

Visitors will learn about the formation of the earth we stand on and the species which inhabit it moving from simple organisms to more complex ones right up to humans ­— homo sapiens.

Look out for the sandcastles which staff brought back from their holidays.

Don Stenhouse, the collections access officer for the natural sciences said: "We're excited. We hope on Saturday it will be full of families with lots of kids running about."

The collections open again to the public with the Egyptian collection on Saturday with a family fun day from 9.30am to 3.30pm.