There’s some information on Liverpool and Merseyside various galleries and museums below, with listings, visiting and contact info below.
Tate Liverpool
Web: Tate Liverpool
Address: Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB
Telephone: 0151 702 7400
Email: visiting.liverpool@tate.org.uk
Press: 0151 702 7444
RSS: Tate Liverpool RSS feed
Sign up for newsletter: Tate Liverpool newsletter
Twitter: Tate Liverpool on Twitter
• View Tate Liverpool Map
Tate Liverpool opening information:
October – March: Open Tuesday – Sunday 10.00–17.50, Closed Mondays (except Bank Holiday Mondays)
April – September: Open Monday – Sunday 10.00–17.50, Open until 21.00 on the last Thursday of every month for Late at Tate Liverpool, Open until 21.00 (Last admission 20.00) every Tuesday – Saturday in August.
Tate Liverpool blurb:
Tate Liverpool presents displays of work from the Tate collection alongside special exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. The special exhibition programme, presented on the Gallery’s fourth floor, brings together works from national and international collections, both public and private.
Since the gallery opened in 1988, Tate Liverpool has presented over 150 different exhibitions and collection displays of work by hundreds of different artists, some seen for the first time in the UK at Tate Liverpool.
Major exhibitions in the past five years include Shopping: A Century of Art and Consumer Culture (2002-03), Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era (2005), Jake and Dinos Chapman: Bad Art for Bad People (2006-7), Peter Blake: A Retrospective (2007) and The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China (2007). Tate Liverpool continues to play an active role in the Liverpool Biennial.
Entry is free except for major exhibitions
Bluecoat Chambers
Web: Bluecoat Chambers
Address: School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BX
Telephone: 0151 702 5324
Email: info@thebluecoat.org.uk
Press: 0151 702 5321
Podcast: Bluecoat podcast
Blog: Bluecoat blog
Sign up for email newsletters: Bluecoat newsletter
• View Bluecoat Map
Bluecoat Chambers opening information:
Box Office opening hours are:Monday to Saturday 9.30am (for phone bookings) / 10am (for counter bookings) – 5.30pm, and for counter bookings up to 15 minutes after the start of the performance on concert nights.
Sunday 12 noon – 5pm for telephone bookings only when there is no concert, and for counter bookings from 5.30pm on concert nights.
Liverpool Bluecoat Chambers blurb:
The Bluecoat is once again thriving with creative activity through a vibrant community of artists, practitioners and creative organisations working from spaces throughout the building. Creativity in the Bluecoat is as diverse as silversmithing and set design, marketing and millinery, visual art and vocal coaching, and through regular open studio events and activities visitors will be able to experience the creative process through its many stages.
Bluecoat Display Centre
The Bluecoat Display Centre is a haven for buyers of everything exquisite in the field of contemporary craft and design. Situated in the heart of Liverpool (click here for a map), European Capital of Culture in 2008.
The Bluecoat Display Centre is a nationally and internationally recognised contemporary craft and design gallery that has been established since 1959. We sell, exhibit and promote over 350 selected contemporary craftspeople each year working in a broad variety of media.
FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology)
Web: FACT
Address: , 88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L1 4DQ
Telephone: 0151 707 4450
Email: info@fact.co.uk
Staff Reception: 0151 707 4444
Cinema tickets booking: 08717 042063
Twitter: FACT on Twitter
Blog: FACT blog
Sign up for email newsletters: FACT newsletter
• View FACT map
FACT opening times:
CENTRE
Monday – Friday: 10.00am – 11.00pm
Saturday: 11.00pm – 11.00pm
Sunday: 11.00pm – 10.30pm
GALLERIES, MEDIA LOUNGE & SHOP
Monday – Friday: 10.00am – 6.00pm
Saturday – Sunday: 11.00am – 6.00pm
CAFE
Monday – Friday: 8.00am – 9.00pm
Saturday: 11.00pm – 9.00pm
Sunday: 11.00pm – 7.00pm
BAR
Monday – Friday: 11.00am – 11.00pm
Saturday – Sunday: 11.00am – 10.30pm
FACT blurb:
FACT, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology is the UK’s leading organisation for commissioning, exhibiting, promoting and supporting artists’ work and innovation in the fields of film, video, and new media.
FACT has commissioned and presented over 100 digital media artworks with artists including Mark Wallinger, Barbara Kruger, Tony Oursler, Pipilotti Rist, Vito Acconci and Isaac Julien .
Originally founded in 1988 FACT’s mission was to inspire and promote the artistic significance of film, video and new media. Twenty years on, and still the UK’s primary exponent of innovative digital media, our aim is to pioneer new forms of artistic and social interaction with emerging creativity.
We believe in the ability of individuals and communities to express themselves creatively, and work with international artists to develop exhibitions, increase knowledge about new technologies and to create new commissions with people living and working in Liverpool.
FACT Programme is the artistic core of the organisation, commissioning projects by artists in film, video and new and emerging media forms and working with a wide variety of partner organisations. Collaboration and Education works across four key areas: housing, health, young people and education, and with local communities through pioneering projects such as tenantspin.
Media Services supports and develops the national infrastructure for artists and exhibitors working with video and new and emerging media forms. As well as managing the Medialab, a training and workshop room, activities include: theMoving Image Touring and Exhibition Service (MITES), the national technical support service for artists and exhibitors; Digital Mastering, New Tools training courses, FACT Online Archive and FACT TV.
Walker Art Gallery
Web: Walker Gallery
Address: Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EL
Telephone: 0151 478 4199
Learning department: 0151 478 4178
Email: Email enquiry form
Liverpool Museums Blog: Liverpool Museums blog
Liverpool Museums RSS: Liverpool Museums RSS
Sign up for Liverpool Musems email newsletters: Email newsletter
Walker Art Gallery opening times:
Open 10am-5pm daily
Closed from 2pm on 24 December, all day 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
Walker Gallery blurb:
The Walker Art Gallery is the national gallery of the North. For 130 years it has housed Liverpool’s most outstanding art collection. Many of the gallery’s most important works have been on display in the city for nearly 200 years.
The Walker Art Gallery holds one of the finest collections of fine and decorative art in Europe. Discover over six centuries of art at the national gallery of the north.
World Museum Liverpool
Web: World Museum Liverpool
Address: World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN
Telephone: 0151 478 4393
Learning department: 0151 478 4296
Email: Email enquiry form
Liverpool Museums Blog: Liverpool Museums blog
Liverpool Museums RSS: Liverpool Museums RSS
Sign up for Liverpool Musems email newsletters: Email newsletter
World Museum Liverpool opening times:
Open 10am-5pm daily.
Closed from 2pm on 24 December, all day 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
World Museum Liverpool blurb:
World Museum combines historic treasures from across the globe with the latest interactive technology to make an unbeatable family day out.
The years since the war have seen the collections continue to grow and so our building had to grow as well. The expansion work, which doubled the amount of display space and created a beautiful new atrium, has been a resounding success. Since the museum’s reopening in April 2005, visitors have been fascinated by beautiful galleries and the latest interactive and technological facilities which have really brought our collections to life for a whole new generation.
This new museum needed a new name, and because our collections come from across the globe the name ‘World Museum Liverpool’ seemed appropriate.
Merseyside Maritime Museum
Web: Merseyside Maritime Museum
Address: Merseyside Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4AQ
Telephone: 0151 478 4499
Learning department: 0151 478 4441
Email: Email enquiry form
Liverpool Museums Blog:
Liverpool Museums RSS: Liverpool Museums RSS
Sign up for Liverpool Musems email newsletters: Email newsletter
Merseyside Maritime Museum opening times:
Open daily 10am-5pm.
The Piermaster’s House open daily 10am-3.30pm.
Closed from 2pm on 24 December and all day on 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
Maritime Archives and Library
Maritime Archives and Library open Tuesday-Thursday, 10.30am-4.30pm.
Merseyside Maritime Museum blurb:
Disscover Liverpool’s central role in centuries at sea as the gateway to the new world. Highlights include a poignant gallery about tragedies such as the Titanic, ship models and the Life at Sea display, telling how merchant navy ships operating out of the port have provided a lifeline in times of war and peace.
Our collections reflect the vitality and importance of the port of Liverpool and its role in world history.
At the museum you can see a variety of objects associated with nautical archaeology and the social and commercial history of the port. Highlights of the collections include ship models, maritime paintings, colourful posters from the golden age of liners and even some full sized vessels.
International Slavery Museum
Web: International Slavery Museum
Address: International Slavery Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4AQ
Telephone: 0151 478 4499
Learning department: 0151 478 4441
Email: Email enquiry form
Liverpool Museums Blog: Liverpool Museums blog
Liverpool Museums RSS: Liverpool Museums RSS
Sign up for Liverpool Musems email newsletters: Email newsletter
International Slavery Museum opening times:
Open daily 10am-5pm.
Closed from 2pm on 24 December and all day on 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
International Slavery Museum blurb:
The International Slavery Museum explores both the historical and contemporary aspects of slavery, addressing the many legacies of the slave trade and telling stories of bravery and rebellion amongst the enslaved people. These are stories which have been largely untold.
Background
The transatlantic slave trade was the greatest forced migration in history. And yet the story of the mass enslavement of Africans by Europeans is one of resilience and survival against all the odds, and is a testament to the unquenchable nature of the human spirit.
In 1994, National Museums Liverpool opened the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery, the first of its kind in the world. This gallery has achieved huge visitor numbers and impact, but there is now a pressing need to tell a bigger story because of its relevance to contemporary issues that face us all.
Our vision is to create a major new International Slavery Museum to promote the understanding of transatlantic slavery and its enduring impact.
Our aim is to address ignorance and misunderstanding by looking at the deep and permanent impact of slavery and the slave trade on Africa, South America, the USA, the Caribbean and Western Europe. Thus we will increase our understanding of the world around us.
National Conservation Centre
Web: National Conservation Centre
Address: National Conservation Centre, Whitechapel, Liverpool, L1 6HZ,
Telephone: 0151 478 4999
Learning department: 0151 478 4817
Email: Email enquiry form
Liverpool Museums Blog: Liverpool Museums blog
Liverpool Museums RSS: Liverpool Museums RSS
Sign up for Liverpool Musems email newsletters: Email newsletter
National Conservation Centre opening times:
Open 10am-5pm daily.
Closed from 2pm on 24 December, all day 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
National Conservation Centre blurb:
Conservators based in this unique venue look after National Museums Liverpool’s diverse collections. Find out how everything from Egyptian mummies to motorbikes are preserved and restored in the interactive Reveal gallery, with its working laboratory.
Our role as a museum service is not simply about putting objects on display and telling people what they are, although that is a major part. It also concerns looking after those pieces, ensuring they are treated with care and respect and are kept in the best condition possible.
Reveal gallery
They say a picture paints a thousand words – and that’s only in two dimensions! Imagine just how many interesting stories are hidden behind some of the incredible objects in National Museums Liverpool’s collections.
The permanent display at the National Conservation Centre, ‘Reveal – the hidden stories of objects’, shows how conservators try to unlock the secrets contained within a variety of different items from our museums and galleries.
You can find out more about the objects on display in Reveal and the stories behind them in the Revelation database on this website. If you have an interesting object we’d like to hear about that as well.
Lady Lever Art Gallery
Web: Lady Lever Art Gallery
Address: Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight Village, Wirral, CH62 5EQ
Telephone: 0151 478 4136
Learning department: 0151 478 4178
Email: Email enquiry form
Liverpool Museums Blog: Liverpool Museums blog
Liverpool Museums RSS: Liverpool Museums RSS
Sign up for Liverpool Musems email newsletters: Email newsletter
• View Lady Lever Gallery map
Lady Lever Art Gallery opening times:
Open 10am-5pm daily.
Closed from 2pm on 24 December, all day 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
Lady Lever Art Gallery blurb:
One of the most beautiful collections of fine and decorative arts in the UK, including British 18th and 19th century painting and furniture, Wedgwood and Chinese porcelain displays.
The Lady Lever Art Gallery was founded by William Hesketh Lever (1851-1925) and is dedicated to the memory of his wife Elizabeth. The gallery contains the best of his personal art collection.
A new permanent display open from 5 July 2008, the Lever the Collector gallery, introduces the man and his collections, telling the story of how he built the gallery. It includes the following themes:
The story of Lever – a remarkable man
Art and advertising
A great collection
Collecting from other collectors
Creation of the Lady Lever Art Gallery
Sudley House
Web: Sudley House
Address: Sudley House, Mossley Hill Road, Aigburth, Liverpool, L18 8BX
Telephone: 0151 724 3245
Learning department: 0151 478 4178
Email: Email enquiry form
Liverpool Museums Blog: Liverpool Museums blog
Liverpool Museums RSS: Liverpool Museums RSS
Sign up for Liverpool Musems email newsletters: Email newsletter
Sudley House opening times:
Open 10am-5pm daily
Closed from 2pm on 24 December, all day 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
Sudley House blurb:
Sudley House is the only place you can see the art collection of a Victorian merchant in its original setting.
The history of Sudley House begins in the first decade of the 19th century. Nicholas Robinson, a rich corn merchant, bought the land for £4500. The exact date of the house is unknown, and neither is the architect. Some exterior features suggest it may be the work of Thomas Harrison. He was working on a number of commissions in Liverpool between 1811 and 1815.
Nicholas Robinson was living in Sudley House by 1823 and the building was complete by the following year. Robinson was Mayor of Liverpool in 1828-9 and lived in the house until his death in 1854. His two daughters continued to live there until their own deaths in 1883.
Sudley was then sold to George Holt. He made many alterations to the property. He transferred the main entrance from the eastern to the northern front, creating a garden veranda on the eastern side. He extended the western end, which included building the tower.
Many of the features added since the 1880s can still be seen. The fireplaces, lincrusta wallpapers and oak panelling are still in place. The carved marble fireplace in the dining room bears the Holt family crest. It may have been acquired on one of the family’s trips to Italy.
Today Sudley House is one of the few period homes decorated in a Victorian style that still has many of its original features. It is also the only surviving Victorian merchant art collection in Britain still hanging in its original location.
Museum of Liverpool
Museum of Liverpool blurb
The Museum of Liverpool Life closed its doors on 4 June 2006. We are currently building a brand new Museum of Liverpool, which is expected to open in 2010.
The new Museum of Liverpool will open in 2010. In the meantime you can find out about the city’s history in some of our other venues.
Two major exhibitions currently feature a lot of the Museum of Liverpool’s collections:
Magical History Tour at Merseyside Maritime Museum until 27 September 2009 – following 800 years of Liverpool history, from medieval ‘Lyverpoole’ to 21st century ‘Livercool’, the European Capital of Culture.
The Beat Goes On at World Museum Liverpool until 1 November 2009 – the story of Liverpool music, from The Beatles to The Zutons
Open Eye Gallery
Web: Open Eye Gallery
Address: Open Eye Gallery, 28-32 Wood St, Liverpool, L1 4AQ
Telephone: 0151 709 9460
Email: info@openeye.org.uk
Sign up for email newsletters: Open Eye newsletter
Open Eye Gallery opening times:
Opening times Tuesday – Saturday: 10.30am – 5.30pm. Closed Sundays, Mondays and Bank Holidays.
Open Eye Gallery blurb:
Open Eye Gallery exists to promote the practice, enjoyment and understanding of photography. We seek to develop a community of interest in the medium, and to enrich our audiences’ experience of photography through artistic programmes that are distinctive, innovative and challenging.
Whilst photography is at the heart of our artistic programmes, we work with a range of media, including film, video and installation. Our programme also includes occasional historical exhibitions that look back with particular interest at work that exerts a strong influence on contemporary practice. Through our exhibitions, publications, projects and events we aim to present the photographic image in a rich context of critical and historical debate.
In our current premises we have gallery space of approximately 100m², in which we host, on average, six exhibitions per year. Occasionally exhibitions from our programme are developed as touring projects. In addition to our gallery programme we also produce off-site exhibitions and projects. Appearing in various shapes and sizes, these projects seek to develop dynamic relationships between art, artists and audiences beyond the gallery. These are either originated and curated internally or in partnership with external curators and galleries.
Victoria Gallery and Museum
Web: Victoria Gallery and Museum
Address: Victoria Gallery & Museum, Ashton Street, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3DR
Telephone: 0151 794 2348
Email: vgm@liv.ac.uk
Sign up for email newsletters: Victoria Gallery and Museum newsletter
Victoria Gallery and Museum opening times:
Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm
Victoria Gallery and Museum blurb:
The Victoria Gallery & Museum is housed in the Grade II listed Victoria Building on Brownlow Hill, the University’s original site.
Designed by Alfred Waterhouse, the Victoria building’s distinctive red brick exterior inspired the term ‘red brick’ university which became synonymous with late nineteenth century civic universities.
The history of the Victoria Building is just as interesting as the treasures it now contains.
Museum
The Tate Hall Museum, a large Gothic style hall on the second floor, showcases material from wide ranging University museum collections.
Highlighting the innovation and excitement of academic discovery and the history of teaching, the collection includes a number of objects relating to innovation and research in areas such as anaesthesia, dentistry, archaeology, zoology, engineering and oceanography.
Exhibits include sea creatures and animal skeletons from an early 20th century zoology museum, fossils of footprints from extinct dinosaur ancestors, a display of calculators from the 19th century to the present day and X-rays from the beginning of X-ray technology.
Gallery
Spanning the 16th to 21st centuries, the art collection comprises more than 6,500 items of fine art, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, glass and silverware.
The collection includes works by Joseph Wright of Derby, JMW Turner, Jacob Epstein, Lucien Freud, Elizabeth Frink and the American wildlife artist, John James Audubon.
The galleries divide to the east and west end of the building. At the east you can see the ceramic collection, donated to the University by Sir Charles Sydney Jones, and the sculpture collection.
The main galleries lead off the west corridor; a series of exciting individual spaces waiting to be explored. Here you will find the Audubon gallery and further treasures from the permanent collections.
A programme of temporary exhibitions of various art forms is scheduled for the year.
Edward Chambre Hardman, 59 Rodney Street
Web: 59 Rodney Street
Address: 59 Rodney Street, Liverpool L1 9EX
Telephone: 0151 709 6261
Email: 59rodneystreet@nationaltrust.org.uk
59 Rodney Street opening times:
11AM–3:30PM, Wednesday–Sunday, 18 Mar–1 Nov 09
59 Rodney Street blurb:
Beautiful Georgian terraced house – the former studio and home of the renowned local photographer E. Chambré Hardman
Georgian house and former home of Liverpool photographer Edward Chambré Hardman
Unique time capsule of Liverpool life in the mid 20th century
Small exhibition space devoted to a selection of Hardman’s work
Discover Hardman’s amazing techniques for photographing people and landscapes
Hear him talk about his work on film
Speke Hall
Web: Speke Hall
Address: Speke Hall, The Walk, Liverpool L24 1XD
Telephone: 0844 800 4799
Email: spekehall@nationaltrust.org.uk
Speke Hall opening times:
Complicated. See website.
Speke Hall blurb:
Superb Tudor house with rich interiors, along with fine gardens and estate. Close to Liverpool City Centre – but with room to breathe
One of the most famous Tudor manors in Britain
An ideal afternoons’ escape from Liverpool
Intriguing period interior: discover the secret priest’s hole and ‘thunderbox’ toilet
Attractive landscaped gardens with vivid flowering displays
Countryside walks, with panoramic views over the Mersey Basin towards North Wales
Licensed for civil wedding and civil partnership ceremonies