World Museum Liverpool

vegegrow

14th September 2008

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A few doors down from the Walker Art gallery in William Brown Street in the centre of Liverpool just a short walk from Lime Street Station. The World Museum was on our list of places to visit as it had an interesting exhibition called 'the beat goes on 'as part of Liverpool European Capital of Culture This alone made it well worth the visit it had a comprehensive selection of images sounds and objects showing the huge range of bands that have been part of the livrpool music scene this plus a wide range of galleries with exhibits from space to the eygptians made it an enjoyable visit, all that and it was free to get in (although we did manage to spend a few quid in the gift shop and cafe)

doggydogfoot

Excellent! 31st August 2008

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This museum is one of the best that I have visited and it keeps you occupies for hours. There are so many exhibits which are all so different from aquariums to space! It is truly fascinating and is great for children as there are many hands on things for them. The entrance is free, so another reason to visit! There is the walker art gallery right next door which is also free so you will definitely be occupied. There is a nice gift shop selling good souvenirs from around the world. I highly recommend visiting this museum, it’s just brilliant!

resident_artist

Great for all the family 29th August 2008

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World Museum Liverpool is well worth a visit. Entrance to it and all shows including the planetarium and story telling sessions for children are free, and I take my 2 boys age 18 months and 3 and a half regularly and we've never been disappointed.
Firm favourites are the Aquarium, the bug house including the beehive, the giant spider and ant colony and the dinosaur exhibits. Probably more suitable for older children are the space and time floor with its own planetarium and the Human World exhibits including Egyptians and World Culture. Great for all ages are the Discovery Centre with dressing up outfits, masks, jigsaws and much more, and the Clore Natural History Centre with hands-on exhibits.

Downside: it gets really busy at weekends and during school holidays and the 2 lifts can barely cope with the amount of people with pushchairs and young children that otherwise can't manage the 5 floors.

dhillcrest

Liverpool Museum World thingy 22nd August 2008

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Liverpool Museum has gone through a bit of a recent renaissance. It was an integral part of my youth, like the occasional trip on the ferry across the Mersey. Something slightly grotty but 'Liverpoolish' about it. I could include graffiti and head-butting in the same sentence but Liverpudlians start moaning and going on about its lack of accuracy on the grounds that there were once about 5 kids who didn't graffiti and headbutt.

To be fair, Liverpools changed a lot in the last 30 years but can't quite shake of its grimy port image. The Liverpool museum and the adjacent art gallery, along with St Georges Hall across the gardens were the few buildings in Liverpool that the Luftwaffe and development conspired to miss and were an oasis of architectural splendour in the midst of 60's grot.

They still shine out in the centre of Liverpool and a lot of work has been done recently to make the inside of the museum as impressive as the outside. Part of this has been to rename it World Museum Liverpool, as if rearranging the words and inserting 'World' adds to its reinvention. Can't fool me that easily, but the effort was there.

What's there?
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Inside the Museum now boasts a new lobby with slate floors and a dangling pterodactyl or some such fossil. Glass walls and see-through lifts give it a modern and airy feel and the effort has been worth it. It rivals bigger cousins in capitals around the world. Nearly.

You see, there isn't much there really. That's its problem. To emphasis it, I can summarise in a couple of lines

Space and Time on the top floor - mostly clocks, a rocket and CD-ROM based info screens. Oh and the planetarium - more in a mo.

Dinosaurs and the animal world - 2 skeletons (casts) and many stone relics. Loads of stuffed animals. For hilarity, see the stuffed lion about to pounce on a stuffed zebra in its life size display. On the day I went there was a cheesy quaver by the lions foot.

Ancient world including some good mummies amidst some dull roman statues with either dangly bits or fig leaf. Some Saxon jewellery and greek vases for highlights.

Bug World below had good, and genuinely good insect displays and models. Very interactive. Dozens of trays of every imaginable bug which you can pull out and explore - the 4 year old loved it. Across the way there were loads of examples of animal and mineral skeletons and shells and God knows what else which you could explore with microscopes attached to video cameras. Actually, the Jac (above mentioned 4 yr old) was mostly interested in looking at the minute scratch on his hand magnified 100 times and wouldn't stop going on about his impending death.

Aquarium. When will they realise that we couldn't give a toss about the rock pools of Anglesey. Aquariums are about sharks - not bleedin' starfish in murky water with a rusty can for the 'authentic' look. Ok, there were the obligatory 'Nemo' and 'Dory' tanks as well.

Facilities
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There is a good shop on the ground floor which caters for kids and adults. Usual stuff - 'Gemstones', dino models, papyrus pictures and World Museum pencil sharpeners. For a good price though I thought - not extortionate.

There are cafes on the ground and top floors, again not to badly priced - adult meals for a fiver and kids lunchboxes at £1.99. Coffee a quid (ish). I can cope with that.

Toilets are everywhere. Well not everywhere, or visitors would be saying 'Oh God not another bog exhibit' and its reputation would plummet.

Disabled visitors are also well catered for in terms of ramps and lifts.

Car parking is available outside the Museum but limited in number, but the train station (Lime Street) is very handy and just across the Gardens behind St Georges hall.

Cost
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Bugger all. Zip. Nada. Free. Entertains the kids for nothing. We all like a bit of that.


Worth it?
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Yep. It's free. It's a bit boring but not dreadful. We got an hour and a half out of it at the weekend for little outlay. The café's nice and so are the staff so give it a go and I don't think you'll be hugely disappointed.

All other info can be found on the rather good website at http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/

Thanks for reading. May also be on Ciao

Summary: Worth a punt for a cheap couple of hour