Leeds City Museum
Leeds City Museum
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| Established | 1819; reopened 13 September 2008 |
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| Location | Millennium Square, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. |
| Coordinates | 53°48′06″N 1°32′50″W / 53.801617°N 1.547323°WCoordinates: 53°48′06″N 1°32′50″W / 53.801617°N 1.547323°W |
| Type | Collection (museum), Heritage centre |
| Public transit access | Leeds railway station, Leeds City bus station |
| Website | Leeds City Museum |
Leeds City Museum, originally established in 1819, reopened on 13 September 2008 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Cookridge Street (now Millennium Square), which has been redeveloped to a design by Austin-Smith:Lord architects and Buro Happold engineers. Gallery and exhibit design is provided by Redman Design.
Admission to the museum is free of charge. Special exhibitions are hosted alongside a collection of displays from the Leeds Archive.
In 1819, a museum was established on Park Row by the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, and in 1821 it opened to the public. In 1921, control of the museum was handed to the Corporation of Leeds which later became Leeds City Council. In 1941, the museum building and artifacts were badly damaged by bombing. In 1965 the museum was closed, and a few exhibits removed to a couple of rooms in the city library in 1966. The oversized Leeds Tiger, the giant moose skeleton and the carved wooden cart took up much of the space. In 1999 the museum went into storage, though researchers and the public could view items by appointment. In 2000, the resource centre at Yeadon opened, under the same appointment-to-view arrangement. In 2001, Leeds City Council bid for National Lottery cash, and in 2004, it was awarded £19.5 million, so in 2005, the Leeds Mechanics' Institute building began to be redesigned as Leeds City Museum, finally to reopen in 2008.
While exhibits vary, they are mainly made up of exhibits from Leeds' history. The central hall has a large map of Leeds printed on the floor. There is also a scale model of the Quarry Hill flats. The exhibits are organised among several galleries. See a slideshow here.
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