3. Proposals for Liverpool ' s Canning Dock © Asif Khan Studio
Museums, Memorials and Commemoration in the Docks
Attempts to redress these omissions from the city’ s public spaces have been long in the making. The importance of the city’ s historic collections means that its most significant museums are publicly owned and governed by National Museums, Liverpool( NML). As a result, unlike many municipal and provincial museums in the UK, they are sponsored and effectively governed by the UK Government’ s Department for Culture, Media and Sport rather than by local authorities. Whilst this means NML and its holdings are bound to national / ministerial conventions and therefore heightened scrutiny, it also means NML’ s museums are free to enter and have a degree of extra financial security compared to many municipal museums in the UK. The current Waterfront Transformation Project, led by NML, is closely tied to the buildings, collections and holdings of three of NML’ s museums- the Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum, and the Museum of Liverpool.
It is important to note here the intertwined history of the MM and the ISM. Merseyside Maritime Museum – as it was then known – housed in the Royal Albert Dock complex, was established in 1980 and fully opened
EUROPE INSIGHT
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