National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, November 20, 2006

Chris Moseley, the head of ship and historic models conservation, is shown relaxing after what must have been quite a nerve racking day. Chris and his colleagues have been conserving the model of Lutyen's unbuilt design for Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral for more than a decade. Today the finished pieces of the model were assembled for the first time, to make sure that everything fitted together. Luckily they did!

There isn't enough room to fully assemble the huge model in the sculpture conservation studio, so it had to be put it together in the nearby paintings conservation studio. The model is being photographed there this week, then it will be taken apart again and transported to the Walker Art Gallery, ready to go on display in the exhibition The cathedral that never was in January 2007.

Update 22 November 2006: you can now see a slideshow of photos of the model being assembled on flickr.

You can find out more about the exhibition in our advance news release or read how you might be able to help out with an exhibit.

You don't have to be looking for love to come to Café Eros

In the past we’ve hosted a number of ‘In The City’ events for singletons on the look out for love or just a jolly night out with good company.

This Sunday we’re extending the offer so that anyone who fancies meeting new friends and tucking into a bit of delicious food can come along, whether or not they’re already attached. Ironically Sunday’s social brunch is taking place in Café Eros at the National Conservation Centre, so we can’t be held responsible if cupid decides to loose a few arrows.

The date for your diary is this Sunday 26 November from 12.30pm-3pm. The brunch costs £5 including entry into a prize draw. Pre-booking is essential.

Sunday will also be the last chance to see Cape Farewell (which includes the skeleton of a minke whale) as the Biennial finally draws to a close. If you haven’t already trawled the streets of Liverpool to see what’s on offer I suggest you get a move on!

Update 23/11/06: sorry, slight correction. Cape Farewell at the National Conservation Centre DOESN'T finish this weekend - it's on until 28 January 2007. However, the Cape Farewell exhibits at the Walker Art Gallery do finish this weekend, so pop over once you're brunched up.

One of the mummies that will be going on display in the new Egypt gallery

A few months ago I told you about the new Egyptian gallery at World Museum Liverpool and said I'd keep you up to date with progress. Well now we've got to the interesting bit - the mummies.

Curatorial staff and conservators have been in our stores selecting mummies and coffins to be featured in the new gallery. This image shows a female of about 19 years of age who died during the Roman occupation of Egypt (30BC to 640AD). The contours of the head and body were modelled before the external wrappings were applied and the eyes and mouth were painted on. A framework of palm-fibre tightly bound with linen thread hangs around the neck, threaded with small amulets of wood. They still retain traces of gilding. The ancient Egyptians believed that the amulets were magical and would protect the mummy.

More photos, including a coffin, can be found on our Flickr page. One of the images features Vivien Chapman, head of organics conservation. You can contact her here.

Also, I've been asked to thank Graham, one of our volunteers who has been helping select objects for the gallery. He's been a star.

You may remember that during Architecture Week in June Sam wrote about the incredible Lutyens' model which is to go on display in our exhibition ‘The Cathedral That Never Was’.  Sir Edwin Lutyens' model of his magnificent design for a Catholic Cathedral is to go on show at the Walker Art Gallery. Construction on the actual building started in 1933 but only the crypt was built. The outbreak of the Second World War and the resulting lack of funds put a stop to it.

The Lutyen's model on show at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1934.

The National Conservation Centre has taken 13 years to conserve the giant model and this will be the first opportunity to see the breathtaking interior fully-restored.

There are plans to show photographs and memorabilia but there is one key item that we are trying to trace. Keeper Julian Treuherz wants to display one of the tin collecting boxes used to raise money for the Cathedral Building Fund. You can see one of these in the Metropolitan Cathedral crypt – but we would like an additional one to accompany our exhibition.

If you have a collecting box, or any other artefact connected with the Lutyens' Cathedral, Julian would love to hear from you. His colleagues working on the new Museum of Liverpool are also collecting memories and stories about the Cathedral, including the laying of the Foundation Stone and the building of the crypt. If you can help, please contact Julian Treuherz at the Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EL.

You can find out more about the exhibition in our advance news release.

Today is the 99th anniversary of the liner Mauretania's maiden voyage from Liverpool. On 16 November 1907 she sailed from Liverpool for New York, arriving safely on 22 November.

Above is a picture of the Mauretania (II) from the Stewart Bale archive. You can find out more in the Revelation database at National Conservation Centre's Reveal gallery or online.

On Merseyside Maritime Museum's collection pages you can also view the Mauretania in a painting by Burnett Poole. She is depicted in dazzle paint - a camouflage technique used by the Royal Navy during the First World War.

Of course the Mauretania’s sister ship was not so lucky. The Lusitania was torpedoed by a U-boat during the conflict with the loss of 1,198 lives including 291 women and 94 children. You can find out more about the Titanic and Lusitania in our collections highlights feature.

Update 5/12/06: An eagle-eyed blog reader spotted that this particular picture is actually of Mauretania (II) and not the Mauretania as originally stated. Sorry about that!

The interior of Princes Road Synagogue

A piece on this morning's Today programme on Radio 4 highlighted the endangered status of a number of England's architecturally-important inner city synagogues, and coincided with the publication of an English Heritage guidebook entitled 'Jewish Heritage in England: An Architectural Guide' by Dr Sharman Kadish.

Diminishing congregations and population migration away from the inner cities are putting a number of these historical buildings at risk of being repurposed or redeveloped, and English Heritage is calling on the UK Government to help. These calls follow the launch in May of its 'Inspired!' campaign, which put the cost of repairing all of England's listed places of worship at £925 million over the next five years.

Amongst those buildings most at risk is the Princes Road Synagogue in Liverpool, built in 1874 by William and George Audsley. This Grade II listed building is cited as one the finest examples of Moorish Revival synagogue architecture in Europe, with its highly ornate interior decked out in gold and marble. You can find out more about the life and works of the Audsley brothers by visiting the 'The Audsleys, Masters of Victorian Design' pages which accompanied a 2003 exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery.

If you missed it you can listen again to Today on the BBC website (the piece starts 1hr 22mins into the programme, RealPlayer required). You can find out more about the guidebook at Jewish Heritage UK.

After all the excitement of an evening out with Yoko Ono and Loyd Grossman at the official launch of plans for the Museum of Liverpool, we didn't have the heart to put our Liver Bird back into storage again. So the sculpture has gone on display in the National Conservation Centre as part of the Museum of Liverpool 'on the road' project.

'On the road' is a scheme which displays some of the iconic objects from the Museum of Liverpool's fantastic collections in unexpected locations around Liverpool City Cente.

The Liver Bird is the third item to go on the road and more are planned, so keep an eye on the 'On the road' webpages for updates.

Yoko Ono and Loyd Grossman arriving at Liverpool Town Hall. Image: Dave Evans

Last night saw the official launch of plans for the Museum of Liverpool (Sam mentioned it yesterday when she saw the Liver Bird being manoeuvred into place). This special event at Liverpool Town Hall was attended by a whole host of special guests (not me, obviously) among whom was Yoko Ono, pictured here arriving with our chairman, Loyd Grossman.

You can read more about the launch on the Liverpool Echo website.

It can't be much of a life being a museum exhibit. True, you do get lots of people from all over the world coming to visit you during the day, but then you're stuck in your glass case all evening and never get to go to any parties.

One lucky exhibit has been granted a night out on the town this evening though as the guest of honour at a special event. This stone Liver Bird, which used to be on display at the former Museum of Liverpool Life, was moved to Liverpool's Town Hall this morning. This evening it will greet guests to the launch event announcing the plans for the new Museum of Liverpool.

The Liver Bird is shown being wheeled into the Town Hall. You can see a slideshow with more pictures of our technical services staff installing it on our flickr page.

This evening's event is for invited guests only. If you don't have a ticket but would like to see the Liver Bird, it will be going on display to the public later this week as part of the Museum of Liverpool 'on the road' project, so keep an eye on the website for details.

Last week Ann Bukantas gave a gallery talk at the Walker Art Gallery looking at her experience of the judging process for John Moores 24. Ann was one of five jurors for the competition, alongside artists Sir Peter Blake, Jason Brooks and Tracey Emin and Director of Visual Arts at the British Council Andrea Rose.

Our recording of the talk is now available online (mp3/transcript/links).

The talk provided interesting answers to many questions including 'What do the jurors do if they recognise a particular artist's work?' and 'How is the final decision on the first prizewinner reached?'.

Also at the Walker Art Gallery for the announcement of the John Moores 24 Visitors' Choice award were Ian and Minako from Art in Liverpool.

They were taking the opportunity to view a slideshow of images from their Digital Show online exhibition which are available to view in the Walker until the end of the Liverpool Biennial (26 November 2006).

Artist Nicholas Middleton was at the Walker Art Gallery this lunchtime to collect a £1000 cheque from Fine Art Curator Ann Bukantas as the winner of the Visitors' Choice award for John Moores 24 for his painting 'Scene From a Contemporary Novel'.

The monochrome photorealist painting was a runaway winner of the award, receiving 709 votes out of 5063 cast by visitors to the exhibition. Runners-up were Graham Crowley for 'Red Reflection' and Gary 'Dollman' Sollars for 'When I Grow Up I Want To Go In There'.

Comments on the voting cards included 'Simply the best!', 'It has been very cleverly painted', 'LOVE IT!', 'Who needs colour to bring things to life?', 'All that is good about photo-realist painting', 'The girl in the picture could well be myself … Very evocative'.

Nicholas Middleton came to the gallery last month to give a talk on his painting, an audio recording and transcript is available online.

Hat of woven shiny black straw with decorated crown, dating from about 1932-35. Part of the Tinne collection.

Today is 'Wear a Hat Day' , as part of a campaign by Age Concern Wirral to raise awareness of the need for the elderly to keep warm and well through the winter.

Despite years of looking, I've never found a hat that doesn't make me look completely daft. So instead of putting a hat on my head I'm getting in the spirit by putting one on the blog.

This rather fine hat was displayed at the Walker earlier this year as part of the popular exhibition A Passion for Fashion. The exhibition has now closed but you can still see some of the highlights on the website, including a few more lovely hats, part of an incredible collection of over 100 that were once owned by Mrs Tinne.

Actors and crew in County Sessions small court room

Several of our venues have recently provided sets for a new BBC1 period drama series to be aired in 2007. 'Lilies' is set after the First World War and tells the story of three Catholic sisters living in Liverpool.

County Sessions House, Canning Dock, the quaysides around the Merseyside Maritime Museum and an area of the Walker near The Death of Nelson will all be featuring.

This image shows the small room at County Sessions House doubling as a 1920's magistrates' court. The costumes came from a theatrical costumiers in Manchester and date from the original era. Our press officer, Stephen Guy, who spent 30 years in courts as a reporter and has studied 1920s classic crime cases, advised the production crew on court etiquette from the era, eg women had to wear hats in court.
More images from filming can be found on our Flickr page.

More about 'Lilies' and filming at Woolton Picture House can be found on the BBC website.

We'll let you know when the series is being shown in the new year (I love location spotting).