World Museum

About the museum

World Museum is the oldest of the National Museums Liverpool venues. It began in the early 1850s as the Derby Museum, built around the natural history collection of the 13th Earl of Derby, and moved into a purpose-built building on William Brown Street in 1860. An extension for a college of technology and museum space designed by Edward William Mountford opened in 1901.

In the Liverpool Blitz of May 1941 German incendiary bombs gutted the building and destroyed many objects, although much of the collection had been moved out earlier. Parts of the museum reopened from about 1956, and a permanent Egypt gallery followed in 1976. A planetarium, the first in the UK outside London according to published accounts, opened in 1970. A £35 million refurbishment completed in 2005 doubled the display space, added a central entrance hall with a six-storey atrium and gave the museum its present name.

The collections include around 20,000 ancient Egyptian and Nubian objects, a large Greek, Roman and Anglo-Saxon antiquities collection, about 40,000 world cultures objects and a national natural history collection of over a million specimens. Visitors can also see live animals in the aquarium and Bug House, handle specimens in the Clore Natural History Centre and watch space shows in the planetarium.

Highlights

• Ancient Egypt gallery with about 1,200 objects, including the Ramesses Girdle
• Wild World: Dinosaurs and Natural History
• Aquarium with the lobster Marge and terrapins
• Bug House with live insects, spiders and scorpions
• Full dome planetarium with space shows
• Clore Natural History Centre with hands-on specimens

Permanent exhibitions

• Ancient Egypt – A gallery tracing 5,000 years of life in the Nile Valley with about 1,200 objects from the museum's Egyptian and Nubian collection, including objects damaged in the 1941 bombing.
• Wild World: Dinosaurs and Natural History – Displays that follow the story of life on Earth from the dinosaurs to animals living today.
• Aquarium – Tanks of local and global marine life, a lobster named Marge, rescued terrapins and projections about conservation.

Founded

1851

Operated by

National Museums Liverpool

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Admission to the museum is free and donations are welcome. Planetarium shows have their own ticket price and can be booked online. Special exhibitions and events may have an extra charge, and exhibitions are free for National Museums Liverpool members. Schools and large groups need to book.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Two lifts serve all floors, with a further lift from level 3 to level 5. All toilets are accessible to wheelchair users, and there is a Changing Places toilet on the first floor (a key is collected from the information desk). A limited number of wheelchairs can be borrowed from the ticket desk, and the planetarium can seat two wheelchair users per show; companion tickets can be arranged through the box office. A limited number of Blue Badge spaces are on William Brown Street outside the museum; they are owned by the city council and cannot be reserved, and the road surface is cobbled. Some videos and interactive displays have subtitles or British Sign Language, and all planetarium shows are captioned, with baby-friendly, relaxed, audio and BSL-interpreted shows offered at times. Trained guide, hearing and assistance animals are welcome if they are supervised and kept with the visitor; other assistance animals should be discussed with the museum seven days before the visit. Drinking bowls are available at the information desk.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations
• Stroller-friendly
• Baby changing facilities

Children can see live animals in the Bug House and aquarium, watch life-size dinosaur skeleton casts and try hands-on natural history activities. The planetarium has shows for families, including ones suitable from age 3. Baby changing is available on most floors, buggies can be stored in the cloakroom by the main entrance, and the café has a children's selection, highchairs and will warm bottles. Breastfeeding is supported. The museum overlooks St John's Gardens, which has space for picnics.

Getting there & parking

The museum is close to the entrance to the Queensway Tunnel. Roadworks in the city centre can cause delays, so allow extra time.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop
• Coat check
• Lockers

Café and shop on the ground floor. Paid lockers (£2 plus a £3 refundable deposit) are available, buggies can be left in the cloakroom, and there is a picnic room on level 4.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Corporate events

Venue hire is run by Hosted By National Museums Liverpool (venuehire@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk), which lists World Museum among its event venues.

Plan your visit