National Museums Liverpool Blog - Saturday, March 13, 2010

It's been a fun start to the weekend for 17 members of the Wirral Ancient Egypt Society who visited World Museum this morning. Blue gloved hands reached across tables to carefully pick up ancient Egyptian artefacts. It was great to see so many people enjoying coming up close with the physical remains of an ancient civilisation. The society is dedicated to the furtherance of the knowledge of the history of ancient Egypt and is open to all that share an interest in Egyptology.

The society has been a good supporter of Egyptology in Liverpool through their annual bursary which is awarded to a Liverpool University Egyptology postgraduate student each year. I was more than happy to give a lecture to the society about 3 significant artefacts of the collection and bring out 21 objects from our the reserve collection for a handling session. The reserve collection consists of the 15000 or so Egyptian artefacts that are in storage. Like most museums we do not have the room to display all our collections but by appointment the reserve collection is actively used for teaching and research by scholars from around the world.

The objects we looked at today varied from the hands and feet of stone carved statues from the royal city of Amarna (where Tutankhamun may have spent time as a child) through to small glazed figurines of gods once worn as amulets which offered protection to the owner. One particular object that caught everyone's attention was a tiny carved green stone figure of a frog, which I believe to be about 5000 years old, but I still have to do some more research to be sure!

To learn more about the Wirral Ancient Egypt Society please visit their website.

See if you can guess - but don't worry if you can't, all will be revealed next week.

Update 15/03/10: Well done to Rich, who has correctly guessed where this is - and what the small round skylight at the top right of the photo is. Click on Comments to see his guess if you're still not sure.

The good news if you want to have a look round yourself is that tours will be available soon - watch this space for details.

Update 25/03/10: As promised the details of the tours, which start in May, are now on the Merseyside Maritime Museum website.

The job of a National Museums Liverpool press officer is a varied one. With such a diverse family of museums and galleries, there are many opportunities to highlight our exhibitions and events within the press, but not all as exciting as yesterday…well, for me anyway!

Here I am with my one of my favourite little characters from the sessions, a gorgeous Pigmy Hedgehog

As a life long lover of Meerkats (yes, I even liked them before those well-known price comparison adverts hit our screens) I was chuffed to bits to be invited along to a press opportunity ahead of some fantastic Meerkat-tastic events that are taking place at World Museum over the next couple of weekends as part of National Science Week.

These gorgeous little creatures will join other live desert and rainforest creatures such as snakes, reptiles and spiders (I’ll be steering well clear of the creepy crawlies!) for free close encounters sessions this weekend and next. You’ll even get to see some weird and wonderful African and Egyptian hedgehogs! Beware of cuteness overload!

Come along to World Museum for sessions held at 11am, 12:30pm, 2pm and 3pm tomorrow, Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 March, and at the same times on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 March 2010 for your own close encounter.

The sessions last an hour, and are free when you collect a ticket from the museum’s information desk on the day to secure a place.

For more Meerkat pics, theres a gallery on the Liverpool Echo website.

Today is the anniversary of a momentous event for football fans in Liverpool and beyond. It was on this day in 1892 that Everton Football Club split in two, with half of the members leaving their home at Anfield and moving to a new site a few hundred yards away at Goodison Road, and the remaining members staying to form Liverpool Football Club.

The Everton Collection website features the actual minute book from 25 January 1892 that describes the members' final offer to Mr Houlding, the owner of the ground they were currently leasing, and the resolution to move to Goodison Road if the offer was not accepted. The rest is history. There's more on the Anfield Split as it came to be known, including the politics and personalities that contributed, in a special feature on the site.

I know I've mentioned The Everton Collection on this blog before but it really is a fantastic resource for fans of Everton, football in general or social history - it's the world's greatest collection of football memorabilia. There's an exhibition of some of the highlights from the collection - Everlution - at Liverpool's central library until Sunday 18 April. The Easter break is just around the corner and there'll be tours and children's trails over the period. And if you can't make it to the exhibition there's either the fascinating Everton Collection website, or objects from the collection will be featured in the new Museum of Liverpool. COYB!

Mother's Day is this Sunday and there's nothing nicer than going out for a scrumptious meal in a stunning setting, so why not treat your mum to a delicious lunch at the Maritime Dining Rooms? There’s a special offer of four courses with tea and coffee for just £17.95. Visit our website to see the enticing menu in full.

Treat your mum to a delicious lunch this Mother's Day

You can also go for the full afternoon tea for two with a bottle of Astoria Lounge Prosecco for just £25.00. To make a reservation call (0151) 478 4056 or pop up to the Maritime Dining Rooms.

Take a look at our great range of Mother's Day e-cards - send a work of art this Mother's Day, or send our Mummy to yours!

For this week's highlight from our Liverpool's Chinatown: Through the lens Flickr competition I've chosen this intriguing image by Alan Cookson, which captures Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral in amongst the vibrant colours of the flags of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Chinese New Year © Alan Cookson

The Cathedral and gold dragon's head are neatly framed in the centre of the image, drawing the eye over and past the crowds, but they are also an integral part of the photo as a whole: though it is a landscape photo the image is made up of a series of vertical elements - a row of flags, the Cathedral tower (331 feet, 1.5 inches tall!) and an onlooker at the right side, these different elements combining seamlessly to give a natural flow to the picture. See the photo in a large size.

To celebrate our photography exhibition China: Through the Lens of John Thomson 1868-72 at the Merseyside Maritime Museum we want you to submit your photos of Liverpool's Chinatown to our Flickr pool - our favourite photo submitted by 24 May will win a banquet for two at Yuet Ben, with two runners-up winning exhibition catalogues. Find out more on the competition page.

Tomorrow, the National Conservation Centre is hosting another free talk as part of the public programme of events for the new Lewis’s Fifth Floor exhibition, running until 30 August.

Lewis’s Fifth Floor: A Department Story is the first solo exhibition by Liverpool photographer Stephen King, and at 12pm tomorrow Stephen can be found in the exhibition space talking all about the exhibition and the overall Lewis’s project.

Lewis's Fifth Floor exhibition photographer, Stephen King

Stephen has a fascinating background in photography, having begun taking photographs when he was ten years old, and developing this passion further by using his other passion, skateboarding as the focus for his work.

In 1998, during his final year of study, he co-founded Document Magazine and was senior photographer and photo editor for ten years, undertaking international assignments and travelling extensively during this time.

His photography practice includes documentary and portraiture, which is displayed fantastically in the Lewis’s exhibition. So come along, have a look, and hear from the man behind the stunning images of the fifth floor.

It's time to peer back into the mists of time again in our series of blogs celebrating World Museum's 150th anniversary. Today is one of the most significant dates in the museum's history, as we revisit the day the museum first opened. Our archives tell us about the challenges that had to be overcome in order to fit the massive natural history collection into the museum...

Slater Street, the location where the museum first openend.

On 8 March 1853, the museum first opened in a building on Slater Street in Liverpool, and it was called the 'Derby Museum of the Borough of Liverpool'.  The Mayor and council marched in a procession from the Town Hall, arriving at the museum just after 2pm.  The Mayor spoke from a temporary dais about the collection of natural history in the museum which had been bequeathed to the town of Liverpool by the Earl of Derby. He said;

"The museum, as is well known, consists of stuffed birds and a large number of birds prepared for stuffing, collected by that eminent patron of natural history, the late Earl of Derby."

"…we may consider this collection the nucleus of one which I fervently hope may exceed in extent, magnificence and in beauty, that of the British Museum itself..."

Then a Mr J.A. Picton came forward to add;

"In regard to the museum, which has just been opened, the problem which was given us to solve was as follows;  [We were] given 18,000 specimens of natural history and to determine how to lace them in a space only calculated to hold 6,000 specimens...I think it would surpass the accomplishment of any conjurer..."

The Bishop of Chester said that he little expected to be called upon to do more than be a spectator.

I wonder if in 1853 anyone apart from the keepers of the collection were allowed to touch the specimens? I doubt that the general public would have got any closer than looking at them in the display cases.

If you visit the museum today however, you can get up close and handle some of the specimens. Head over to the Clore Natural History Centre and see what you can get your hands on!

Conrad Benjamin, RAF Steamer Point

I am pleased to report that the February visitor figures for the International Slavery Museum were extremely good and we are now very close to receiving our millionth visitor. A fantastic achievement considering we have only been open since 2007. 

We are always looking to enhance the visitor experience and this can often mean covering sensitive and challenging issues. An example is Missing (2007) by the artist Rachel Wilberforce, a series of photographs of urban and suburban Britain which depict sex-trafficking and prostitution through the interiors and exteriors of brothels and so-called massage parlours. This newly acquired part of our contemporary slavery collection is now on display. Rachel will be giving a public lecture about her work on Wednesday 10 March 6-8pm at the Merseyside Maritime Museum as part of International Women’s Week. Check the International Women's Day events page for further details.

The very successful Black Britannia exhibition has now ended and we are eagerly awaiting our new cricket based exhibition Beyond the Boundary to be installed.  The exhibition explores the relationship between cricket, culture, class and politics. There is a strong South African element to the exhibition, not just because all eyes will be on South Africa for the World Cup but because we have been working closely with Dr June Bam-Hutchison, museum consultant, community development strategist and a South African national herself. June has brought a wealth of personal and professional knowledge to the table and we are delighted she has been involved.  

Not only was I keen to develop this exhibition due to the fact that the subject fit well with the museum but I have to admit I am a keen cricket fan and was excited at the prospect of a cricket based exhibition. My love of the game came from my father, a great bat as they say (and not a bad slip fielder too!) who was born in then British Guiana (now Guyana) and was used to playing on the fast and hard surfaces of Caribbean pitches when he came to the UK in the 1950s. He joined the RAF and continued to play the game with great success. He in fact played well into his sixties and I was fortunate enough to play in the same team for a number of years.

As a Yorkshireman I of course follow Yorkshire CC who when I was born still had the rule that you had to be born within the county boundaries to be eligible to play for them. Alas, even though I fulfilled this criterion I was never good enough to play at that level. I was also brought up as an avid West Indies fan. There was no choice in the Benjamin household and I always remember my father sat next to the radio listening to the national institution that is Test Match Special. The Windies were a great force when I was growing up in the 1980s and got the better of England on a number of occasions, most famously the ‘Blackwash’ series of 1984. I won’t tell you anymore, go and see the exhibition for yourself.  

Bye for now

A contemporary promotional Lusitania postcard, circa 1910

It is quite frequent now to see large crowds at Liverpool’s Pier Head when liners and cruise ships come in but at one time it was a very common sight indeed.

I can remember many people shouting and cheering when the Empress liners departed on scheduled Atlantic crossings. It was a memorable spectacle – just like this occasion more than 50 years earlier.

The Lusitania, from her maiden voyage to New York to her sinking by a German U-boat submarine eight years later, was Liverpool’s favourite liner among the many using the port.

The 31,550-ton Cunarder was a popular berth for many of the city’s seafarers who took pride in being members of the crew of this beautiful ship.

It was 7 September 1907 when Lusitania left Liverpool on her maiden voyage under the command of Commodore James Watt. She steamed into New York on 13 September after a trouble-free voyage – one she was to repeat many times before her terrible end.

At the time she was the largest ocean liner in the world and held that distinction until her equally lovely sister Mauretania entered service in November 1907. Both ships were also the world’s fastest liners when they held the Blue Riband for crossing the Atlantic.

Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Titanic, Lusitania and the Forgotten Empress (of Ireland) gallery has many items linked to all three doomed ships.

Both Lusitania and Mauretania were ordered by Cunard to restore Britain’s superiority over German ships in the Atlantic passenger trade. The year they entered service was particularly significant because Liverpool was celebrating the 700th anniversary of King John’s charter.

More than 200,000 people lined the banks of the River Mersey to watch Lusitania leaving on her maiden voyage. When Mauretania came into service they worked together providing an express service between Liverpool and New York.

The museum displays include a letter written by Mr C R Minnitt on the Lusitania’s first trip. He told his friend Ethel Poole: “You should have heard the people cheer.”

A card featuring an engraving of the Lusitania invites VIPs to view the liner in the Mersey three days before her maiden voyage. A contemporary colour brochure shows Third Class accommodation including Ladies’ Room, Smoking Room and a four-berth room.

A photograph of the First Class Dining Saloon features its splendid upholstered chairs with crystal glass on sumptuous tablecloths.  

All this was sent to the bottom of the Irish Sea on 7 May 1915 with the loss of nearly 1,200 lives including many Liverpool crew members.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1 p&p UK).