National Museums Liverpool has been awarded £220,000 from the government-managed DCMS/Wolfson fund to improve and interpret some of the city’s most important docks and quaysides, including the graving docks, Canning Half Tide Basin quayside and Canning Dock.
The new park, due to open in 2009, will link the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the new International Slavery Museum with the forthcoming Museum of Liverpool, opening in 2010.
A range of maritime objects, including one of the propellers from the Lusitania, plus old pistons, anchors, winches, boilers, capstans and keel blocks, are already kept on the quaysides, and the project aims to bring these artefacts to life.
As well as conserving these objects visitors will be able to explore the docks through interactive information points, which will feature touchscreen guides and audio speakers and include wireless base stations to let visitors download audio guides onto their mobile phones or MP3 players.
This part of Liverpool’s dock system has been used for more than 200 years and includes the dry basin of the original Old Dock – the world’s first commercial wet dock and the foundation of Liverpool’s maritime power. It forms part of the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site.
