Museums in Liverpool

Creative Tourist

Our guide to museums in Liverpool ranges from gargantuan offerings like the World Museum to small but perfectly-formed (and rather more eccentric) spots like The Hardman’s House. Discover where houses the world’s largest collection of false teeth – and which was built at a cost of £72 million.

Our top picks

World Museum Liverpool

World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 8EN - Visit now

It’s all here at The World Museum with treasures from around the world, the bottom of the ocean and even outer space. A hybrid of old and new: outside, it’s all Corinthian columns and neo-Classical architecture. Inside, five floors of natural history exhibits including dinosaur displays, bugs and insects, a planetarium, aquarium and Ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian artefacts. This museum is unashamedly family focussed and as you might expect it is mobbed on weekends and school holidays.

Exterior of World Museum Liverpool, home to Dino Ranger Day

Museum of Liverpool

Museum of Liverpool, Pier Head, Liverpool Waterfront,, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 1DG - Visit now

Three years in the making at a cost of £72m, the Museum of Liverpool opened in 2011 and exists to tell the long and winding tale of Liverpool’s past. Which it does, in spades, thanks to 6,000 objects displayed on three floors, all connected by a shell-like, spiral staircase.

From an exploration as to why Liverpool was once declared “a wonder of the world” to the only surviving carriage of the world’s first electrified overhead railway, this museum gives visitors the chance to get under the skin of a city that was for 200 years one of the world’s most influential.

Image courtesy of Visit Britain

Maritime Museum

Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 4AQ - Visit now

Liverpool has a long nautical history and the Merseyside Maritime Museum in the historic Royal Albert Dock is the perfect place to get a feel for the small inlet that grew to become the gateway to the world.

Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool, image courtesy of venue

Victoria Gallery and Museum

Victoria Gallery and Museum, Ashton Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L69 3DR - Visit now

Designed in 1887 by architect Alfred Waterhouse to house the newly established University College, Liverpool, the building underwent an £8.6 million renovation when it was converted into a gallery and museum to mark Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Edwardian archaeology, contemporary photography and the world’s largest collection false teeth – the museum squeezes a lot in across two floors of exhibition space.

International Slavery Museum

International Slavery Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 4AQ - Visit now

The International Slavery Museum opened on 23 August 2007, marking the date of the annual Slavery Remembrance Day and the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade. Not merely custodians of the past, this museum takes a stance campaigning for social justice on behalf of enslaved people around the world – and does a mighty fine job of it.

Merseyside Maritime Museum & International Slavery Museum within Royal Albert Dock

The British Music Experience

The British Music Experience, Cunard Building, Liverpool, L1 3DS - Visit now

The British Music Experience charts the beginnings, rise and influence of British pop from 1945 to the present day. There are iconic costumes worn by David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Dusty Springfield, the Spice Girls and Adam Ant, and musical instruments played by some of the world’s most renowned artists from Noel Gallagher to the Sex Pistols.

The Beatles Story

The Beatles Story, Britannia Vaults, Albert Dock, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 4AD - Visit now

Liverpool is synonymous with the Fab Four and the award-winning Beatles Story experience is an atmospheric journey into the life, times, culture and music of the biggest selling rock group in the world.

BeatlesStory, courtesy of author

The Hardmans’ House

The Hardmans’ House, 59 Rodney Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 9EX - Visit now

Part art exhibition, part time capsule, the home of the 1950s portrait photographer Edward Chambré Hardman is a monument to the magnificent portrait and landscape photographs he captured over a 50-year career, the oddball lifestyle he led – and is one of Liverpool’s best small museums. Lovingly restored and preserved by the National Trust, Hardman’s House is a space in which you can’t turn without seeing something – be it a prize-winning portrait or simply a pile of old newspapers.

The Hardmans' House, Liverpool

Where to go in Liverpool

Liverpool
Museum
Sudley House Art Gallery

Liverpool’s Sudley House is the only surviving Victorian merchant art collection in Britain still hanging in its original location.

Waterfront
Museum
The British Music Experience

It’s a discotheque for the senses, an incredible collection of artefacts and memorabilia, audio guides, music and stories. There are iconic costumes worn by David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Dusty Springfield, the Spice Girls and Adam Ant, and musical instruments played by some of the world’s most renowned artists from Noel Gallagher to the Sex Pistols.

The Hardmans' House, Liverpool
Liverpool
Museum
The Hardmans’ House

The Hardmans’ House in Liverpool provides an intimate insight into the life and work of the respectable yet widely-deemed eccentric couple that resided there for over 40 years.

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Liverpool
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