Museum of Liverpool themes and displays
Port City will explore Liverpool’s physical development - geographically, economically and technologically as a port - linking to the communities that serviced the port, their character and diversity past and present.
The gallery will look at the development of the dock system and its impact on city infrastructure and employment. It will explore how the city expanded due to the opportunities of the industrial revolution and development of world trade. Communication and transportation were key to Liverpool’s 19th century success and the city was at the centre of a new technological developments, as shown by the building of the first managed wet dock in the world in 1715, the continuing development of those dock technologies and the opening of the 1830 Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first inter-city railway in the world.
Key exhibits will include Lion, the famous 1838 steam locomotive, as the centrepiece of the section following the impact of the industrial revolution. The gallery will also explore stories about the people living and working underneath the rails of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, or the Dockers’ Umbrella, and will feature an original third class Overhead Railway carriage, suspended above the gallery to suggest its working height.
The displays within Port City will include:
A public forum to discuss the key themes of the Port City gallery was held in October 2007. A podcast and transcript of the key speakers at the public forum, including Adrian Jarvis, Robert Lee and Ken Pye, is available on this website.
Culture, Heritage and Regeneration of Port Cities
19-21 November 2008, BT Convention Centre, Kings Dock, Liverpool
David Fleming, director of National Museums Liverpool, Tony Tibbles, director of Merseyside Maritime Museum and Jon Murden, curator of Liverpool history, will be speaking at the On the Waterfront conference in November.
Port Cities are fascinating places with complicated pasts, experiencing global economic revival. The On the Waterfront conference will explore the future of port cities - from Liverpool to New York, Shanghai to Lagos - in order to address how we can best protect the integrity of historic maritime ports while ensuring their distinctiveness is not lost for future generations.
There is a strong emphasis on the role heritage plays in regeneration, the importance of cultural tourism and how waterfront projects in port cities such as Mumbai and Gdañsk have utilized previously redundant areas to fashion vibrant and diverse places where creativity has flourished alongside economic resurgence.
For further information please visit the On the Waterfront conference website or download a pdf of the brochure below.
