New Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham MP, visited the site of the new Museum of Liverpool on Saturday to announce funding of a further £500,000 towards the project from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The Culture Secretary, returned to the city of his birth and met Phil Redmond and National Museums Liverpool Director David Fleming for a tour of the project – a major physical legacy for Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year. The visit comes following a Cabinet reshuffle which saw Andy Burnham appointed on 24 January 2008.
The Museum of Liverpool will be the world’s first national museum devoted to the history of a single city, reflecting Liverpool’s global significance through its unique geography, history and culture.
Mr Burnham was obviously delighted to be back in the city of his birth as Culture Secretary, his family still live here and he mentioned his grandfather used to drive lorries around the dock area for Tate & Lyle.
He said that sport, culture, leisure and the arts makes regeneration come to life.
Building on the success of the Museum of Liverpool Life, the new museum will draw on National Museums Liverpool’s vast wealth of collections, many of which have never been on public display.
The new national museum will be an exceptional learning and community resource as well as a high quality contemporary public building giving unprecedented access to over 10,000 objects from National Museums Liverpool’s collections. The family visitor attraction will provide 8,000 square metres of public space and will attract 750,000 visits a year.