Liverpool’s World Museum houses the Ancient Egypt gallery, the second largest gallery of ancient Egyptian antiquities and artefacts in the UK after the British Museum.

The collection of objects from ancient Egypt and Nubia covers a timespan of over 5,000 years of human life in the Nile Valley, with highlights including one of Egyptology’s rarest discoveries – the Ramesses Girdle – a wonderfully well-preserved item of royal clothing originally worn by Pharaoh Ramesses III (1186 – 1155 BC).

The evolution of the collection began in 1852, when goldsmith Joseph Mayer opened his Egyptian Museum in Liverpool. Many of Mayer’s objects came from the same sources as those now in the British Museum and the Louvre, and there is no doubt that Liverpool’s status as a port city, supplying cotton from Egypt to Lancashire’s cotton mills, helped him build such a substantial and diverse collection.

In 1867, Mayer donated the collection to The Liverpool Free Library and Museum (now World Museum), establishing it as the most important public collection of Egyptian antiquities outside London. 3,000 objects were destroyed when the museum was bombed in 1941, but the collection subsequently increased in number by 10,000 over the next 40 years, and currently stands at around 20,000 objects – 1,2000 of which are showcased in the current ancient Egypt gallery.

Apart from the world famous Ramesses Girdle, the collection includes a gold ring that belonged to King Amenhotep II, a four-metre long Book of the Dead illustrated papyrus, and ‘Papyrus Mayer B’ – a unique account of a tomb robbery in the Valley of the Kings. The exhibition tells the story of how the collection came into being, and Liverpool’s connections with archaeological digs in both Egypt and Sudan.

As we regularly highlight, our friends and partners at National Museums Liverpool are the custodians of some of not just the UK’s, but the world’s most famous art and antiquities. Following the reopening of NML’s museums and galleries on 17th May, we encourage both locals and visitors to explore these free venues, including taking a ‘journey through time’ at World Museum’s magnificent Ancient Egypt gallery.

While the Walker Art Gallery is renowned for its beautiful collection of paintings and sculptures, it also houses a unique collection of British and European decorative art including pieces dating back to 1300. There are around 100,000 items in the Gallery’s collection, including ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewellery, furniture and musical instruments.

Apart from works by major UK and international makers and designers, the collection also features objects commissioned by local patrons, commemorative pieces, and other items designed, made or decorated in and around Liverpool.

Highlights include a collection of 10,000 British and European ceramics, featuring medieval pieces and a comprehensive collection of Liverpool-made ceramics from the period 1700-1850. 18th century wine glasses and stained glass windows dating from the medieval period are represented in the vessel glass collection, while the metalwork collection comprises around 1,300 precious metal, silver and gold objects, including a collection of silver items crafted by Liverpool silversmiths.

The jewellery collection features a large number of finger rings, some dating back 700 years, as well as a growing assortment of modern jewellery dating from the 1980s to the present. Items of furniture by acclaimed Liverpool-based designers and makers such as George Bullock and Herbert Macnair are among the roughly 300 pieces displayed in the Walker Art Gallery and Sudley House. The textile collection, meanwhile, numbers around 10,000 items, including embroideries, lace, woolwork, quilts and household furnishings.

This brief overview gives an idea of the vast range of unique, quirky and special objects on display in the Walker Art Gallery’s decorative art collection. Beauty and functionality are the essence of decorative art, and the Walker’s stunning collection, now open to the public once again, offers an excellent introduction to this important and historical art form.

Excitement is building ahead of next Tuesday 18th May, when most of National Museums Liverpool’s venues will reopen in line with the government’s easing of lockdown restrictions.

The Walker Art Gallery, World Museum, Museum of Liverpool, Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, Lady Lever Art Gallery and Sudley House will all be open from next Tuesday, while the Planetarium is due to reopen in June, and the Aquarium is expected to reopen in time for the summer holidays.

Opening hours for NML’s museums and galleries are Tuesday to Sunday from 10am – 6pm (all venues will be closed on Mondays, except bank holidays).

Visitors to the Walker Art Gallery will be able to view the 67 artworks shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize 2020, including the first-prize winner, Kathryn Maple’s stunning large-scale work The Common.

While Kathryn was the jurors’ winning choice, we can all still place our votes for the Visitor’s Choice Prize, sponsored by Rathbones. Voting has now been extended until 13th June, allowing people to vote after seeing the exhibition in person.

We are all looking forward to the reopening of the Walker Art Gallery and all of NML’s other venues, and wish these great national institutions and their wonderful staff all the very best for the weeks and months ahead!

Liverpool Cathedral has been open for worship services and private prayer and reflection since April 12th (Monday to Sunday from 11am – 3pm), and expects to open fully to visitors on or around May 17th, in line with the Government’s roadmap to lifting lockdown restrictions.

While the wait to visit one of the city’s most popular landmarks in person goes on, the Cathedral has recorded a virtual tour consisting of a series of videos that encompass all the building’s most important points of interest. These include the magnificent latest art installation in the Derby Transept, “The Outraged Christ” by Charles Lutyens, the iconic Lady Chapel, the Children’s Chapel, the High Altar, the Corona Gallery, the Memorial Chapel and the great Benedictine Window.

Many will be unaware that the Cathedral also hosts a collection of paintings and sculpture by some most distinguished artists of the 20th and 21 centuries, including five Royal Academicians: Tracey Emin, Craigie Aitchison, Elisabeth Frink, Christopher Le Brun and Adrian Wiszniewski.

Cathedrals and churches have always been important patrons of visual art which during earlier times, with mostly illiterate congregations, was a powerful means of communication, education, and spiritual inspiration and reflection. While modern audiences may draw different messages, the tradition has persisted to this day, with Liverpool Cathedral continuing to commission artworks from some of the most eminent contemporary artists, which are displayed throughout the building.

We would like to wish our friends at Liverpool Cathedral the very best for the impending full reopening in a little over two weeks, and hope and pray that the door’s of one of Liverpool’s greatest institutions will now permanently remain open for both the faithful and the curious.

Established by the well known philanthropist Sir John Moores in 1957, and described by the Guardian as ‘the prize at the forefront of modern art’, the John Moores Painting Prize is awarded every two years to the best contemporary painting by a UK-based artist, with the short-listed artworks exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Walker Art Gallery has been closed for most of the past year, opening briefly once more in December, before being forced to close again on the 30th of that month when the latest national lockdown was put in place. The Walker Art Gallery is now set to reopen on 17th May, in line with the Government’s four-step ‘roadmap’ to lifting lockdown restrictions.

For the John Moores Painting Prize 2020 candidates, the gallery’s closure has meant that their work has so far been inaccessible to the general public. Fortunately, however, the Walker Art Gallery and National Museums Liverpool have put together a virtual tour of the 67 short-listed artworks for the prize. This exciting collection of paintings can be viewed on the National Museums Liverpool website.

Kathryn Maple’s acrylic on canvas work The Common was announced as the winner of John Moores Painting Prize 2020, and her painting will now permanently feature in the Walker Art Gallery’s world famous collection. As friends and partners of the gallery, we offer our congratulations to Ms Maple, and wish the Walker team all the very best for a successful (and hopefully permanent) reopening in a little under a month from now.