Major plans for the future of Liverpool’s International Slavery Museums and Maritime Museum have received substantial backing of £19 million from major public investment.
With this support from the Department of Culture Media and Sport’s Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund, the future of both museums represents an exciting new chapter for Liverpool’s historic waterfront and its contribution to Liverpool’s £6 billion visitor economy.
Laura Pye, Director, National Museums Liverpool said: “The transformation of International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum is a landmark project for Liverpool’s historic waterfront, promising to bring a significant boost to the region’s visitor economy.
“With the vision for both museums driven by community stakeholders and engagement it also represents a powerful moment for unheard or under-represented stories to have a platform like never before.
“We’re hugely grateful to the UK Government for this investment and the confidence it shows in the vision for the museums, and teams making it a reality. This support is ensuring we continue to serve the needs of our communities and audiences, now and for generations to come.”
Museums Minister, Baroness Twycross, said: “This £19 million investment for crucial infrastructure work will support Liverpool’s Maritime Museum and International Slavery Museum in a striking redevelopment of both buildings. Once complete, the transformation will embody the museums’ commitment to creative storytelling, education and the representation of Liverpool’s history on the local, national and global stage.
“Liverpool’s historic waterfront is such an iconic part of our national heritage, and I look forward to this investment bolstering these museums’ position at the forefront of historic engagement and education.”
Maritime Museum was opened fully to the public in 1986 as part of the extraordinary revitalisation of the Albert Dock during that decade. Twenty-one years later International Slavery Museum opened in 2007, with its evolution from a basement gallery to a major museum powered by local community activism and resilience.
Today, the redevelopment of both museums is the cornerstone of National Museums Liverpool’s Waterfront Transformation Project, reimagining the area between Royal Albert Dock and Mann Island, combining storytelling, heritage, community and connectivity.
Led by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBStudios), the redevelopment of International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum sensitively responds to the existing Grade I-listed buildings: Hartley Pavilion and Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building (previously the Dock Traffic Office).
A monumental new entrance for International Slavery Museum will be worthy of its position as the only national museum in the world dedicated to transatlantic slavery and its legacies. This bold and striking intervention on the historic landscape, responds directly to community stakeholder feedback for designs to feature not only an accessible front door but one that also claims its rightful place on Liverpool’s waterfront.
A new contemporary link bridge will connect Hartley Pavilion and the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building and creating a ‘pause-point’ with panoramic views across the docks, where visitors might consider how the stories within the galleries relate to the place they currently stand.
Maritime Museum will see significant regeneration and enable the museum to show a more comprehensive and coherent vision of Liverpool’s maritime story. A new entrance will create a more welcoming arrival for visitors, new galleries will explore conflict, global connections and migration, with the popular ‘Titanic and Liverpool’ gallery also revitalised.
International Slavery Museum will become a home to the National Centre for Teaching Black History. The re-developed second floor of Dr Martin Luther King Junior Building will be dedicated to the learning outputs and outcomes of the centre and its programming will connect with collections and representation across all National Museums Liverpool’s museums and galleries.
Ralph Appelbaum Associates are leading on the exhibition design for both museums, and the project will see new galleries, as well as shared spaces for community uses, research, learning and events.