Six months to Museum of Liverpool opening
See photo gallery below. Images by Pete Carr
The city's newly built £72m visitor attraction at the Pier Head will open to the public in July, National Museums Liverpool have announced.
The galleries are currently being fitted out by Northern Ireland-based Patton Heritage at the new museum, which will open in two phases, July and a date to be announced later in the year.
NML said the museum is the largest newly-built national museum in Britain for more than a century, covering around 86,000 sq ft over three floors.
The 'national museum for the people of Liverpool' will contain 6,000 objects that are currently in store, many of which have never been on public display before.
The galleries in the museum will focus on four main themes: port, creative and sporting history, people and global significance. Two of the four – the creative / sporting and people galleries – will open in July. At 40 metres long by 28 metres wide, the Wondrous Place and People's Republic galleries will be the largest in the museum. There will also be a children's gallery called Little Liverpool in the opening phase, for children aged six and under.
David Fleming, director of National Museums Liverpool, said: "Over the next couple of months, we will be able to set the exact opening date, which will give a real focus to the project and create a great buzz in the city. This will be one of the world's great museums."
The building contract team included 3XN, AEW, Galliford Try, BRC Imagination Arts, Buro Happold, Mott MacDonald and Turner & Townsend.
Click an image to launch gallery
See behind the scenes images of the gallery being fitted out http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumsliverpool/sets/72157625879446197/
By Ere