New Mary Rose Museum

To mark the 500th anniversary year of King Henry VIII’s accession to the throne and of his commissioning of his flagship, the Mary Rose, the Mary Rose Trust, the charity preserving the ship, is launching the Mary Rose 500 public appeal (www.maryrose500.org) to help fund an ambitious new £35 million museum project.

The museum will display previously unseen artefacts recovered from the ship. The extraordinary Tudor items – which include Europe’s oldest fiddle complete with its bow, a beautifully preserved leather ‘manbag’ and the giant wooden spoon used to stir the crew’s porridge pot – have been hidden away in the Mary Rose’s reserve collection due to a lack of display space. They have been brought out of storage to highlight the need to hit the Trust’s funding target for the new museum project and through it to secure the future of the Mary Rose.

The new museum, scheduled to open in time for the London Olympics in 2012, will complete the preservation of the wreck of the Mary Rose and reunite the great ship with thousands of hidden treasures that have never before been displayed in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the Mary Rose’s home.
 

To find out how your group can help secure the future of Henry VIII’s flagship visit www.maryrose500.org  or call 023 9275 0521.