Cultural venues in Liverpool are celebrating the 40th anniversary of when they joined together to form the only national museum group in England outside London.
National Museums Liverpool is made up of The Museum of Liverpool, World Museum, Walker Art Gallery, Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, Sudley House and Lady Lever Art Gallery.
The exhibition marks four decades since the venues decided to unite in order to protect their collections of art and objects which hold both historic and scientific significance.
The curators from every venue have chosen an object to represent Liverpool for a ‘first of its kind’ exhibition at the World Museum.
In 1986 the Merseyside Museums and Galleries Order was put before Parliament, and from this National Museums Liverpool was born, allowing future generations to enjoy the rich culture of Liverpool.
Nicola Selsby, Interim Head of Exhibitions said: “We’ve selected 40 of our objects from across all of our venues and our collections to highlight them.
“The exhibition itself is designed largely off what it looks like back of house, the idea is to give a sensibility of the work that happens behind our closed doors, behind the curtain at the museum.
“The objects are all totally random, it is a real cabinet of curiosities. There is no linear route through, it’s all about exploration and discovery.”
Pauline Rushton, Head of Sudley House and Lady Lever Art Gallery Pauline has worked for National Museums Liverpool for the last 40 years.
She said this about her chosen object: “The one I’ve chosen is this object which is a jacket from Liverpool super club ‘Cream’.
“One of the reasons I chose it was also because every week cream attracted people from all over the country. It was so popular that, in the 90s, some of the Liverpool universities even used that fact in their prospectuses to attract students to study here in Liverpool.”
The legend of ‘Cream’ continues to this day in the form of Creamfields festival in Daresbury Cheshire.
She added about her object: “It’s all about living for the weekend, people who may have had boring jobs in the week but were excited to go out and to be on the club scene.
“It means a lot still to people in Liverpool so that’s why I chose this jacket”.
The exhibition is open until the 28th of February 2027, with 40 objects from all over the seven venues and labels describing their stories and why they were chosen.
[All photos have been taken from the National Museums Liverpool NML@40 press release. Featured image taken by Robin Clewley.]
