Port Macquarie's hub of culture and arts has reopened after the completion of major works to resurrect the space following February's microburst storm.
The Glasshouse Regional Gallery has been closed since February 3 after a box gutter inside the gallery filled up with ice and overflowed during the storm, flooding parts of the space and offices.
Regional Gallery Curator Bridget Purtill said water then travelled into the ceiling from above and on the western side.
Investigations were then conducted to assess the extent of the damage.
"We needed to see how much water had gotten in and where all the damage was," Ms Purtill said.
"We had quite significant damage to the floor upstairs, which is a significant historical floor in that the wood was from a tree that was donated, so we didn't want to replace it."
Drying out the upstairs floor of the gallery took a "significant" amount of time.
"There was a lot of cockling in the floorboards which have now all been reduced and dried out," Ms Purtill said.
Inspections were also conducted in the western-side wall of the gallery.
"There had been water behind the wall, but we were able to draw the water out which took quite a bit of time."
The walls then had to be filled and the ground floor ceiling pulled down and replaced. The western-side of the upstairs ceiling was also replaced.
"The contractors did such a great job and all of the pain, sweat and tears that went into it to get our gallery back to where it was before the storm was worth it," Ms Purtill said.
"It's such a relief to have it open again to the public."
School students are among the first artists to be displayed in the gallery, with ARTEXPRESS now open to the public.
The official ARTEXPRESS event will be held at the gallery on September 1.
Hastings Valley Fine Art also has works being displayed upstairs.
Ms Purtill said it has been emotional to reopen the gallery to the public.
"Everyone got a bit teary," she said. "I think everyone's excited to be back and celebrating art.
"We want to thank everyone for their support and patience and our contractors for getting us back open again."
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