Exploring Liverpool's Cultural Attractions
English Port Is an Up and Coming Travel Destination
Jun 16, 2009
Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture 2008 put the city high on the list of up and coming travel destinations. The massive $850 billion building program that lead up to 2008 revamped and re-energized this city on the River Mersey.
Liverpool's Great Maritime History
The current boom is, however, not the city's first flush of prosperity. Liverpool was once a wealthy, world-class city, one of the busiest ports in the world. By the start of the 19th century, 40 percent of the world’s trade passed through Liverpool's docks on the River Mersey.
Those maritime profits funded many architectural and cultural legacies. Outside of London, Liverpool has the U.K.'s biggest single collection of Grade One and Two listed buildings. Eight museums and galleries comprise the National Museums Liverpool. Their artifacts, paintings, specimens and objects are the greatest collection jointly held under single ownership in the U.K.
St. George's Plateau and Hope Street
St. George’s Plateau is Liverpool’s cultural heart. It’s the home of the Walker Gallery, whose collection spans six centuries. The Walker has one of the finest British art collections outside of London. Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, a wealthy brewer and former mayor of Liverpool, was its founding benefactor.
A $46 million restoration has put the shine back on the nearby St. George’s Hall, one of Europe’s greatest Neo-classic buildings.
Hope Street is Liverpool’s chic, creative neighborhood. The Art Deco-styled Philharmonic Hall, the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, a university and some small theaters are here.
Hope Street’s cobblestones run from the Anglican Liverpool Cathedral to the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral. The Liverpool Cathedral is largest cathedral in Britain and the fifth largest in the world. Its massive exterior of the red sandstone brick belies the gracefulness of the awe-inspiring interior of soaring spaces. Seeing a red British telephone booth inside the cathedral is surprising—until you find out that it’s another design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the cathedral’s architect. Nothing is traditional about the Metropolitan Cathedral’s design. Sixteen exterior concrete ribs form a circle that supports a stained-glass lantern.
Museums on Albert Dock
Liverpool’s 18th- and 19th-century status as a vital port with innovative dock technologies earned the Mersey River waterfront a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. The site includes Albert Dock. This restored complex of handsome red brick warehouses now houses several museums, shops and cafes.
Artifacts such as a life jacket from the Titanic, which carried Liverpool’s name on her stern, ships models and maritime paintings in the Merseyside Maritime Museum are tangible reminders of Liverpool’s long links to the sea.
The International Slavery Museum explores the disturbing historical and contemporary aspects of an infamous side of Liverpool’s shipping wealth. At the end of the 18th century, Liverpool controlled more than 41 percent of European and 80 percent of Britain’s slave commerce. The Slavery Museum is in the Merseyside Maritime Museum.
The Tate Liverpool features rotating exhibits of modern art. It's an offshoot of the Tate London, which was founded by Liverpudlian sugar magnate Sir Henry Tate.
See the lives and hear the music of the Fab Four at the Beatles Story. Recreated scenes—from the cramped Cavern stage to John Lennon’s “White Room”--music, videos and narrations by key players weave the irresistible tale of the young Liverpudlians’ swift rise to the top of the pop music world.
Liverpool's Waterfront Has Classic Architecture and New Developments
The "Three Graces” at the Pier Head are a stately architectural legacy from the great days of shipping. Cunard's headquarters were in the Cunard Building from 1839 to 1967. The "Liver Birds," two cormorants atop The Royal Liver Building, have become the city's symbol. The Port of Liverpool Building is the third prominent building.
Liverpool One is a $1.6 billion, 42-acre multi-use riverfront development that has transformed Liverpool's heart. This, Europe's largest urban regeneration project, has shopping, dining, entertainment, apartments and the five-acre Chavasse Park.
The River Mersey waterfront also has a new cruise ship dock and the new Arena and Convention Center.
When the Museum of Liverpool at the Pier Head opens in 2010 it will be the largest newly built national museum in the U.K. for over a hundred years. It will also be the world's first national museum devoted to the history of a regional city, focusing on Liverpool's global significance through the city's unique geography, history and culture.
Visitors and Liverpudlians agree that being the European Capital of Culture 2008 put Liverpool on the travel map and that Liverpool is definitely a city on the rise.
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