THE curator of Apsley House, the 19th century home of the Duke of Wellington in London, is now officially director of the Hunt Museum in Limerick.
Mr Jonathan Voak has spent the last eight years managing the Wellington Museum, where visitors number almost 100,000 a year.
He will oversee the transfer of part of the Hunt Collection from the University of Limerick to the city's 18th century Custom House in a £2.9 million renovation project.
In 1983 Mr Voak became a curator in the metalwork department in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
A year later he was appointed curatorial assistant to the V & A director, Sir Roy Strong.
In addition to Apsley House, he had responsibility for the historic Ham House and Osterley Park House while they were transferred from the V & A to the National Trust.
The Hunt Collection, valued at £50 million and consisting of 2,500 objects, will be on public display at the end of the year, in time for the city's 800th anniversary of receiving its first charter.
Mr Voak (35), from Jersey, said yesterday: "This fine building will provide an appropriate home for a collection of international importance, particularly its medieval collection."
Limerick was a "city with many attractions and it has an arts culture that wouldn't be found in an equivalent city in England," he added.
Dr Tony Ryan, chairman of the Hunt Museum board, said: "The board looks forward to working closely with Jonathan in bringing the Custom House project to completion and realising the Hunt family's wishes."
Mr John Hunt, a member of the family which gave the collection to the nation, said Limerick was "the cultural capital of Ireland". A figure of 100,000 visitors to the museum annually was achievable, he added.
The city art gallery in Pery Square would be renovated for almost £1 million and a new museum would be sited in Nicholas Street, near King John's Castle.
Mr Voak succeeds Ms Mairead Dunlevy, who has returned to the National Museum in Dublin following her promotion to Keeper of Art and Industry with responsibility for the refurbishment of Collins Barracks.
The Hunt Museum will have three floors of galleries, an education wind restaurant and temporary exhibition hall. "Thanks to Mairead Dunlevy, the museum already has a thriving Friends organisation and a full Docent [educational] programme," said Mr Voak.
The Hunt Collection, acknowledged as one of the world's most important private medieval collections, ranges from Egyptian sculpture and Celtic crosses and medieval enamels and textiles to drawings by Picasso and Henry Moore.
It also has a bronze horse attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.