National Museums Liverpool Facts for Kids

National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and an exempt charity under English law.

In the 1980s, local politics in Liverpool was under the control of the Militant group of the Labour Party. In 1986, Liverpool's Militant councillors discussed closing down the city's museums and selling off their contents, in particular their art collections. To prevent this from happening the Conservative government nationalised all of Liverpool's museums under the Merseyside Museums and Galleries Order 1986 which created a new national trustee body National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside. It changed its name to National Museums Liverpool in 2003.

It holds in trust multi-disciplinary collections of worldwide origin made up of more than one million objects and works of art. The organisation holds courses, lectures, activities and events and provides educational workshops and activities for school children, young people and adults. Its venues are open to the public seven days a week 361 days a year and all exhibitions are free. National Museums Liverpool has charitable status and is England’s only national museums group based entirely outside London. It currently comprises eight different venues, one of which is outside Liverpool itself — the Lady Lever Art Gallery, located in Port Sunlight.

NML Museums and Art Galleries
Other Liverpool Museums and Art Galleries
Proposed Museums
See also

NML Museums and Art Galleries

Museum	Year Established	Status	Specialities
World Museum	1851	Open	Ancient History, archaeology, ethnology, natural history, space and time, science
Walker Art Gallery	1877	Open	Art: Painting, sculpture and craft
Merseyside Maritime Museum	1980	Open	Immigration, Maritime history
The Piermaster's House	1983	Open	Wartime
Border Force National Museum	1994	Open	The Border Force National Museum (Known as:Seized! The Border and Customs uncovered), highlighting the work of the HM Revenue & Customs and the UK Border Agency, covering smuggling, crime and the history of tax. Located in the basement gallery of Merseyside Maritime Museum since May 2008.
International Slavery Museum	2007	Open, Phase 2 under development	Historical and contemporary aspects of slavery
Lady Lever Art Gallery	1922	Open	Art: paintings, sculpture and furniture
Sudley House	1996	Open	Art, fashion
Museum of Liverpool	2011	Open	Liverpool's social and cultural history. The museum follows the Museum of Liverpool Life, open 1993–2006
National Conservation Centre	1996	Closed	Art, conservation science and technology. Closed to the public 17 December 2010. Conservation work continues behind the scenes.