The Mary Rose is a must-see this summer
A visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to see the Mary Rose – in the year of her 500th Anniversary - is a popular choice this summer. Visitors are being urged to enjoy the sight of this magnificent vessel, the only Tudor warship on display in the world, before she is withdrawn temporarily from view on September 20th for a new £35 million museum to be built around her.
In one of the most ambitious and significant heritage projects in recent years, the Mary Rose’s hull will be housed in a brand new boat-shaped museum and for the first time visitors will be able to see a state-of-the-art recreation of the wreck’s missing side. The Mary Rose Trust has received a £21 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete the conservation of the hull and build a permanent museum which will also house the thousands of treasured artefacts found with the ship.
The existing Mary Rose Museum, located elsewhere on site, contains over 1000 original Tudor artefacts and will remain open throughout the construction phase where the hull will be interpreted imaginatively within, including a new introductory film, enhanced displays and an insight by experienced guides. Having been nationally recognised as a ‘Family Friendly Museum’, this attraction is a must-see in its own right.
Chief Executive John Lippiett explained: “We have devised an imaginative programme of events and interpretations during the closure to give visitors a different, but equally fulfilling, visitor experience.”
“We have a number of new, previously unseen exhibits planned that we know the public will be excited to see; we will be hosting the British Library’s national travelling exhibition Henry VIII: Man and Monarch at the end of the year, and technology allows us to present the hull in innovative and exciting ways.”
The new building will be a finely crafted, wooden “jewellery box”, clad in timber planks both reflecting the structure of the original ship and HMS Victory alongside. The timber will be painted black and inscribed with carvings used by the crew of the Mary Rose to identify their personal belongings. A balcony to the west will offer visitors a spectacular view over the historic dockyard and its numerous 18th and 19th Century Grade 1 and 2* listed buildings.
The new permanent Mary Rose structure will complete the visitor experience with galleries corresponding to the principal deck levels – castle, main and hold – running the length of the ship to imitate the missing port side of the Mary Rose and allowing the original artefacts to be displayed in context. The atmospheric lighting will make visitors feel like they are walking on-board the ship and stepping back in time to that fateful day. Galleries at either end will display additional material related to the corresponding deck level, and include further artefacts, interpretation material and hands-on experience.
On display will be more than 60% of the collection of artefacts recovered by maritime archaeologists including uniforms, weaponry, medical instruments, ceramic mugs, eating utensils, silver tankards, dice, playing cards and more
The Mary Rose will remain in its current ‘hotbox’ in the centre of the museum until the conservation process is complete in 2016, allowing visitors to witness the ongoing wet and dry conservation through new viewing ports from each of the new deck-level galleries. On completion of the air-drying phase, the hotbox enclosure will be removed, allowing visitors to fully appreciate new and dramatic views of the Mary Rose’s original timbers as per the original dream when the Mary Rose was raised from the seabed in 1982.
The Mary Rose has been described by historian Dr David Starkey as this country's Pompeii, painting the finest picture of the world of sixteenth century life. The Mary Rose features highly on an international stage and the new museum will continue to attract visitors from all over the world and provide a learning programme to inspire children, students and community groups of all ages and abilities.
