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Liverpool exploded into life in the 18th century, rapidly turning from a small town into one of the world’s most important port cities. For 200 years, it eclipsed most of Europe in the trading stakes – nationally and internationally – Liverpool was where it was at.
What does that mean for the visitor today? You’ve only to look up: a skyline that’s part of a World Heritage Site, a waterfront that never fails to impress, and Georgian streets that are as graceful as they are grand. It is these architectural cheekbones that, along with the grand sweep of the River Mersey, make Liverpool such a visual treat. Sure, the city was for years on its uppers, its post-industrial decline as swift as it was comprehensive. But Liverpool has reinvented itself, as the UK Capital of Culture in 2008, as the home of the leading visual arts event Liverpool Biennial, as the place where artists make work and where a new, creative future is being written.
Step straight out of Lime Street Station and you’ll find yourself in the middle of the bustling St George’s Quarter. Together with the World Museum, is the Walker Art Gallery, housing a collection of historic and contemporary art. The Liverpool Empire, Royal Court and the Liverpool Playhouse Theatre are close by too. With two stunning cathedrals that sit on either side of Hope Street in the Georgian Quarter, the arrea is also home to the Everyman Theatre and some of the finest restaurants and bars in the city: The London Carriage Works, Pen Factory and the architecturally marvellous Philharmonic Dining Rooms are among our favourites.
Head to Liverpool Waterfront for a world-class visual arts offering alongside important historic exhibitions. Aside from an abundance of independent shops and eateries, the Dock is home to Tate Liverpool and its collection of contemporary art and changing exhibitions; the Merseyside Maritime Museum exploring Liverpool’s long nautical heritage and the uniquely important International Slavery Museum, examining Liverpool’s part in the Transatlantic slave trade.
Like the Liver Birds sitting atop the city’s most famous building, one turned to the sea, one turned to home, Liverpool is a city with a world view, yet a place with a personal, personable one too.
A treat for the eyes and curious minds, the Walker Art Gallery’s spring exhibition of Tudor portraits is sure to delight audiences.
The hilarious smash hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors explodes into the North West this summer in a brand-new production.
Don’t miss this super theatre festival packed with live outdoor performances featuring musical theatre, drama, comedy, cabaret, opera, and children’s shows. Programme to be announced soon.
Liverpool’s Zap Graffiti teaches all the basic skills and techniques you need to make a street-style creation you’ll be proud of.
‘Refractive Pool: Contemporary Painting in Liverpool’ at Walker Art Gallery celebrates local talent with an exhibition of paintings by 21 Merseyside artists alongside a publication.
Tate Liverpool’s summer show ‘Radical Landscapes’ delights with a fresh, rebellious and thoroughly modern look at the subject of landscape via a display of over 150 works, spanning a century of landscape art that falls far from the traditional.
Whip cracks, whistles, synths and strings. Explore the bravura career of Italian composer Ennio Morricone at FACT.
With live music and plenty of slapstick, don’t miss this new production of the sensational comedy when it plays to Liverpool audiences this summer.
Motifs of wellness, water and K-pop will all intertwine to create ‘My Garden, My Sanctuary’, the summer exhibition at FACT Liverpool.
Port Sunlight’s exhibition ‘Inspired by Lady Lever’ aims to reveal a little more about the lady herself, with the help of valuable artefacts, while celebrating 100 years of history at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, and the life of the woman it is named after.
A little way out of Liverpool City Centre, and a short and leafy walk from…
As city centre districts go, this one is relatively small: a cluster of buildings along…
The waterfront, which takes in the Albert Dock and the Pier Head, is an integral…
The Ropewalks is a part of Liverpool that combines old and new. Once crowded with…
One of Liverpool’s most graceful quarters can be found along Hope Street. Named after the…