The World Museum Liverpool

In Brief.

Liverpool is well served for museums, and previous blogs have covered visits to The Museum of Liverpool, the Maritime and Slavery Museums, and The Beatles Story and Beatles Museum. So, it was something of a surprise to find a further, substantial museum with the ambitious scope of covering The World.  A grand Neo-Classical building adjacent to other imposing civic piles, The World Museum provides a sensitive modernisation of a Victorian building, with a variety of spaces on different floors covering different places and times, including Egypt and World Cultures galleries and an aquarium. That it is almost next door to The Walker Art Gallery means you will need to bring comfortable shoes.

The World Museum and Liverpool Library.

What's Here?

The World Museum has a central atrium, from which different galleries and exhibitions are reached over what seems like quite a few levels if you use the stairs!  There are some temporary exhibitions, for which there may be a fee, and the others are free.  From the cafe, I started with the modest Natural History area, with a variety of deceased animals, a few fossils and little in the way of a narrative, and wondered if the cake was going to be the highlight of the visit. 

However, I needn't have worried, as a door at the side of one of the floors led to the excellent and varied World Cultures collections, with exhibits grouped by location, but with recurring themes of trade and connections to Liverpool in the 19th Century.  Particular highlights included an installation called I, too am a survivor, based on a poem by Sarah Howe that narrated the experience of several objects from the collection, with associated visuals.  The World Cultures exhibition is also comfortable mocking the acquisition of cultural objects by force, and confronts various harms that have accompanied British territorial ambitions.  Now, the museum is huge, and my shoes weren't especially comfortable, so I only also briefly visited the Egyptian gallery with its remarkable collection of mummies and associated burial objects.

Totem poll from Canada in the atrium.


The World Museum is so substantial that it could occupy a full day. However, it is also almost next door to the Walker Art Gallery. This hosts diverse collections of sculptures, craftwork and paintings, largely from before the 20th century. Though certainly worth a visit, I tend to prefer galleries that have more of a focus, so the Lady Lever Gallery, in Port Sunlight, also part of National Museums Liverpool, was more my kind of thing.

Practicalities.

Distance from Manchester Town Hall: 35 miles

Drive Time: 1 hour 

Price: Free, Donations are requested.

Parking: There is paid parking nearby, though I parked at the Waterfront and walked up.

Food and Drink: I had a nice cake and coffee in the cafe, and a satisfactory cheese toasty.

Retail therapy: There is a museum shop, mostly targeted at kids.

Child Friendly: A substantial fraction of the visitors are likely school-age.

Toilets: Yes.

Do it justice in: Museum: 2+ hours; Gallery 1+ hour.

Inside-Outside: 100:0

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