Musuem Waterfront Walkway
A PUBLIC walkway linking Liverpool’s three waterfront museums will encourage visitors to learn about the city’s heritage on six outdoor computer terminals.
The new quayside route will link the Merseyside Maritime Museum with the new International Slavery Museum and the Museum of Liverpool, due to open in 2010.
Due to open in 2009, it will follow the oldest surviving part of Liverpool’s dock complex, including the graving docks which have seen 200 years of working use.
It will guide visitors along the Canning Half Tide Basin quayside and Canning Dock, formerly the dry basin of the original Old Dock, and the world’s first commercial wet dock.
Along it will be dotted six all-weather computers bringing a futuristic twist to the World Heritage Site.
Each terminal will be fitted with a weatherproof touchscreen and audio speakers, allowing visitors to learn about the history of the area.
The computers will be fitted with wireless Wi-Fi and bluetooth technology, so visitors can download audio guides about the site onto their mobile phones or MP3 players.
The work, expected to cost £365,000, will be carried out with the help of a £220,000 government grant awarded to National Museums Liverpool (NML)yesterday.
Tony Tibbles, director of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, said the project would not only enhance the World Heritage Site and improve links between attractions, but would encourage visitors to learn more about Liverpool’s mercantile past.
He said: “This is great news. It will allow us to provide state-of-the-art interpretation to the historic quaysides when they re-open to the public in 2009.”
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Wolfson Foundation allocate £4m annually to capital projects in national and regional museums and galleries.
In total, 43 museums and galleries in England will benefit.
Mr Tibbles said essential conservation work would be carried out as part of the development of the quaysides.
He added: “This project will bring them to life for the visitor and inspire them to learn more about what they are viewing.
“Objects include one of the propellers from the Lusitania, the liner sunk by a U-boat during the First World War, and two navigation buoys from the River Mersey.”
carolineinnes - Liverpool Echo
