New Museum of Liverpool has 150,000 visitors in two weeks
Museum of Liverpool THE new Museum of Liverpool has welcomed more than 150,000 visitors since it opened its doors to the public two weeks ago.
The £72m waterfront attraction hit the landmark total yesterday.
Museum bosses revealed it has been averaging 12,500 visitors a day – three times the previous record set by National Museums Liverpool stablemate World Museum Liverpool – since it opened a fortnight ago today.
That included more than 13,000 people who flocked to the Mann island site during its opening day on July 19.
Meanwhile, the record attendance so far was on Saturday, July 23, during the city’s waterfront weekend, when the venue extended its opening hours and 20,577 people came through the doors in 12 hours.
The Museum of Liverpool’s acting deputy director Zelda Baveystock said: “It has been a rollercoaster.
“We always knew there would be a high level of interest in the museum, but this is brilliant.
“We are delighted to have so many people wanting to come and see the results of our work.
“It does feel very, very busy.”
She said the Little Liverpool gallery, aimed at youngsters under six, had been operating at capacity, while the other galleries – People’s Republic, Wondrous Place and Global City – had also been thronged with crowds.
Ms Baveystock added: “It is testament to how many people worked on the project.
“We have had lots of people interacting with the displays, trying out things they have done or contributed to.”
NML bosses had estimated the Museum of Liverpool would attract more than 750,000 visitors in its first year, but that target looks set to be eclipsed, even if the current high visitor numbers settle down after the initial novelty of the new landmark and the busy school summer holidays.
The venue, which is free to visit, is the largest newly-built national museum in the UK in more than a century and features more than 6,000 objects across 8,000sq m of public space.
They include the stage where Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met in 1957; the first Ford Anglia off the Ford’s Halewood production line in 1963; 360° immersive films about football in Merseyside and The Beatles; cycling legend Chris Boardman’s famous Lotus Sport bike; and a reconstruction of typical court housing.
The second phase of the museum’s opening, which includes the Overhead Railway, History Detectives, Great Port and Kings Regiment galleries, is due to take place before Christmas.
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