Launch of new Mary Rose Museum

Twenty-eight years ago today, on October 11th, 1982, millions watched on TV screens around the world as the sodden timbers of the hull of the Tudor warship Mary Rose emerged from the Solent. The ship, commissioned by Henry VIII and launched in 1511, had sunk before the king’s eyes swiftly and dramatically on July 19th, 1545, during a skirmish with the French.

Since then the only surviving warship of its period in the world has attracted nearly 8 million visitors to view it in its temporary structure at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Now it is at another critical juncture. Following a £35 million public appeal launched by the Mary Rose Trust, construction begins this morning on a new state of the art museum that will be built around the remains of the vessel. The museum is due to open early in 2012 in time for the London Olympics.

This is a necessary project, as well as a hugely worthwhile one. The current museum is in a different building 300 metres away from the remains of the ship. Consequently, many who view the Mary Rose miss seeing its contents, a mind-blowing time capsule of treasures dredged from the seabed. Visiting for the first time last month, I had not anticipated the power of this startling collection of objects, which present a vivid insight into 16^th-century life, from crumb-sized dice (gambling was illegal on board the king’s ships, so the smaller the dice the easier to hide in a hurry), navigational devices and the astonishingly well-preserved silk velvet cap of the barber surgeon, to the tools of the ship’s carpenter, the nit combs carried by almost every crew member and the remarkable longbows made of Yew. However, the existing museum shows only a tiny proportion (6 per cent) of the 1,900 items raised and the interpretation is well past its sell-by date.

Designed by Wilkinson Eyre, Pringle Brandon, Gifford and Land, the new building will take the form of a boat-shaped, timber-clad lozenge enveloping the preserved vessel. Galleries on three levels will allow visitors to view each deck with far more contextualisation of objects. Most importantly, over 60 per cent of these will be exhibited. Central to the new development are expanded educational facilities. These will provide four times as much room as at present, not just for schools, but also for adult learning programmes such as the Mary Rose’s renowned conservation and maritime archaeology courses. 

So far the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded its largest grant ever to the project: £21 million. A further £10 million has been raised, but there is still £4 million to be found. The Mary Rose 500 Appeal, launched a year ago, is seeking to raise £250,000 of this through individual pledges of £500. After the final conservation process is completed in 2016, the ship will no longer need to be displayed behind glass. Visitors will be embark on a new voyage of discovery through this national treasure.