World Museum facts for kids

"Liverpool Museum" redirects here. For the similarly-named museum, see Museum of Liverpool.

Quick facts for kids
World Museum
World Museum, with the entrance to Liverpool Central Library on the right
Former name	Derby Museum Liverpool Museum
Established	1851 (1851)
Location	William Brown Street, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Visitors	672,514 (2019)

The World Museum is a big museum in Liverpool, England. It has huge collections about old civilizations (archaeology), different cultures (ethnology), and science, including nature and physics. You can also visit the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. It's free to enter, and it's part of National Museums Liverpool.

A Look Back in Time
What You Can See
Images for kids

A Look Back in Time

The original entrance to World Museum, with Liverpool Central Library next door.

The World Museum you see today is not connected to an older museum run by William Bullock in Liverpool from 1795 to 1809.

The museum first opened in 1851. It was called the Derby Museum because it started with a large collection of natural history items from the 13th Earl of Derby. At first, it shared two rooms on Duke Street with a library. But it became so popular that a new, special building was needed!

A wealthy local politician, Sir William Brown, gave the land for the new building. This land was on a street called Shaw's Brow, which is now William Brown Street. He also gave a lot of money for the building itself, which became known as the William Brown Library and Museum. About 400,000 people came to the opening of the new building in 1860.

By the late 1800s, the museum's collections were getting too big for its building. So, a competition was held to design an extension for both the museum and a technology college. Edward William Mountford won, and the new part, called the College of Technology and Museum Extension, opened in 1901.

During The Blitz in World War II, Liverpool was heavily bombed. Many of the museum's collections were moved to safer places. However, the museum building was hit by bombs and badly damaged. It took fifteen years for parts of the museum to reopen.

In 2005, the museum had a big makeover that cost £35 million. This project doubled the display areas and made more collections available to visitors. A new main entrance and a tall, six-story open space were created. New galleries like "World Cultures" and the "Bug House" were added. When it reopened, the museum changed its name again to World Museum.

What You Can See

Space and Time

The Black Knight BK02, a type of rocket, is in the Space and Time section of the museum.

The museum's science collection grew a lot after the 1941 bombing. It includes items from places like the Liverpool Royal Institution and the University of Liverpool. These items are often unique, like special tools made for experiments at places such as CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research).

The Planetarium

The World Museum has its own planetarium, which opened in 1970. It was one of the first planetariums in the UK outside of London! It has 62 seats and about 90,000 people visit it each year. The shows teach you about space, the Solar System, and space travel. There are also special shows just for kids.

Human History

The Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, an Aztec book, is one of the few that survived the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

The Mummy room at World Museum.

Ancient Worlds: Archaeology and Egyptology

The museum's archaeology collection has many amazing British objects. These include the Anglo-Saxon Kingston brooch and the Liudhard medalet.

The Egyptian collection is very important, with about 15,000 objects from Egypt and Sudan. These items cover a huge period, from prehistoric times to the Islamic era. Many objects came from famous ancient sites like Abydos and Amarna.

In 1867, Joseph Mayer, a local goldsmith, gave over 5,000 Egyptian items to the museum. He wanted people in Liverpool to see the amazing achievements of ancient Egypt, especially if they couldn't visit the British Museum in London. Because of his generous gift, many others started donating Egyptian items too. By the late 1800s, the museum had one of the most important Egyptian collections in England, after the British Museum.

The museum also got new items by helping to fund archaeological digs in Egypt. It worked closely with the University of Liverpool. Sadly, in May 1941, a bomb hit the museum during the Liverpool Blitz. Many artifacts were destroyed, even though some had been moved to safety. It took a long time for the Egyptian gallery to reopen in 1976. After the war, the museum continued to add to its collection by getting new finds from digs and buying other museum collections. The Egyptian gallery was updated and expanded again between 2015 and 2017.

World Cultures: Ethnology

The ethnology collection at World Museum is one of the top six in the UK. It focuses on four main areas: Africa, the Americas, Oceania, and Asia. The exhibits include fun, interactive displays.

The Natural World

In the Natural World area, you can see many different exhibits. These include live insect colonies and old zoological (animal) and botanical (plant) displays. You can get a closer look at the collections in the Clore Natural History Centre, which has hands-on activities.

The museum's natural history collection is split into different parts: Botany, Entomology (insects) and other Invertebrates, Geology, and Vertebrate Zoology (animals with backbones).

Animals with Backbones: Vertebrate Zoology

The 13th Earl of Derby started the original museum with a huge gift of animal specimens in 1851. This included many rare and "type" specimens, which are like the official examples for a species. The collection grew even more when Canon Henry Baker Tristram's bird collection was bought in 1896. The museum also has animals collected by famous naturalists like Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.

The museum also has specimens of several animals that are now extinct. These include the Liverpool pigeon, the great auk (an egg), the Falkland Islands wolf, the Passenger pigeon, the dodo, and the thylacine.

Spotted Green Pigeon, also known as the Liverpool Pigeon (NML-VZ D3538). The only specimen of the species in existence.
The Great Auk Egg from the collections of World Museum, National Museums Liverpool (NML-VZ LIV.2016.13).
Mounted Dodo Skeleton.jpg

Mounted Dodo
Thylacine skull (NML-VZ A26.9.1910.1) held at World Museum, Liverpool.
Mounted Pink-headed Duck at World Museum NML-VZ 1994.71.193.1
Passenger Pigeon from the collections of World Museum, National Museums Liverpool.jpg

Passenger Pigeon from the collections of World Museum, National Museums Liverpool

Many of the museum's public galleries with stuffed animal specimens were destroyed by fire during the air raids of May 1941.

Plants: Botany

The museum's plant collections have grown a lot over time. They now include important plant specimens that are over 200 years old. These represent most of the native plants found in Britain and Ireland.

Earth's Story: Geology

The geology collection at World Museum has over 40,000 fossils, plus many rock and mineral collections. These exhibits teach you about how Earth began, what it's made of, and its long history.

The geology collection started in 1858, just seven years after the museum opened. Much of the original collection was destroyed during World War II. However, the collections have grown a lot since then, partly because the museum acquired several important collections from other museums and universities. The biggest of these was the University of Liverpool's geology collection, which includes about 6,600 fossil specimens.

Images for kids

Holotype of Ceyx gentiana Tristram (NML-VZ T3959).
Holotype of Alaudo chelicuti Stanley (NML-VZ D2304b).
Holotype of Chelidon rustica transitiva Hartert (NML-VZ T2057).
Syntype of Symmorphus (Lalage) affinis Tristram (NML-VZ T3961).
Syntype of Symmorphus (Lalage) affinis Tristram (NML-VZ T3965).
Syntype of Peristera histrionica Gould (NML-VZ D1486b).
Syntypes of Trichoglossus novaehollandiae septentrionalis Robinson (NML-VZ 23.7.1900.4; NML-VZ 23.7.1900.4a; NML-VZ 23.7.1900.4b).
Holotype of Psittacus Taranta Stanley (NML-VZ D704).
Syntypes of Psaris fraserii Kaup (NML-VZ D1868; NML-VZ D1868a).
Mounted Lord Howe Island Swamphen (NML-VZ D3213). One of only two specimens of this species in existence.
Thylacine skull (NML-VZ 1963.173.131) held at World Museum, Liverpool.
Adder, Grass Snake, Frogs, Toads and Newts.
Roe Deer.
The Weasel.
Squirrels with Drey.
The Otter.
The Stoat.
The Mole.
The Polecat.
The Wren. Case 43.
The Reed Warbler. Case 65.
The Bearded Titmouse. Case 66.
The Cuckoo. Case 70.
The Long-eared Owl. Case 82.
The Kestrel. Case 83.
The Gannet. Case 92.
The Mallard or Wild Duck. Case 99.
Hooded or Grey Crow Group. Case 102.
The Ruff Group. Case 106.
The Curlew. Case 125.
The Pied Wagtail and Dipper Group. Case 156.
One of the Cuckoo Groups. Case 160.
The Barn Owl Group. Case 180.
The Eider Duck Group. Case 193.
The Oyster-Catcher Group. Case 198.
The Tern and Ringed Plover Group. Case 202.
The Great Black-backed Gull Group. Case 208.
The Black-throated Diver Group. Case 217.

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World Museum Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.