LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.-The Museum of Liverpool Life closed to the public on Sunday 4 June 2006 so that preparations for building work can begin this autumn on the new £65 million Museum of Liverpool. The Museum of Liverpool will be a bigger and better version of the Museum of Liverpool Life which is housed in a former boat hall and building used by pilots controlling traffic along the river.

The Museum of Liverpool Life and its collections celebrated the people of Liverpool, their culture, achievements and contributions to national life. Jen McCarthy, the Museum of Liverpool Life’s head of social history, said:

“We look back over the past 13 years since the museum opened with great affection. The museum has been very popular with the people of Liverpool as well as visitors from all over Britain and the rest of the world. We are looking forward to building work starting soon on the Museum of Liverpool. The new museum will be much bigger than the Museum of Liverpool Life and will be able to do true justice to our magnificent collection of Liverpool-related exhibits that are currently in store. Museum of Liverpool On the Road, a travelling exhibition featuring items from National Museums Liverpool collections, will visit popular places around the city in the years leading up to the opening of the Museum of Liverpool in 2010."

In addition, two major exhibitions about Liverpool will be staged at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. In 2007 a large-scale exhibition will explore Liverpool’s history over the last 800 years, told through the lives of ordinary people, the famous and the infamous. A major multi-sensory, exhibition in 2008 will celebrate Liverpool as the capital of pop and rock, exploring Liverpool’s popular music heritage from 1945 to the present.