The Tate Liverpool
The Tate Liverpool
Jake Davies
The Tate Liverpool in Liverpool is a huge museum and gallery displaying modern and contemporary art.
It is housed in a refurbished warehouse at Albert Dock, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Liverpool Mercantile Marine City.
It is the most visited art gallery and museum in the UK outside of London.
History
Tate Liverpool opened in 1988 and was the second of what is now four museums that collectively are known as Tate.
The original museum is now called Tate Britain and is located on Millbank in London. Established in 1897 as the National Gallery of British Art.
The name Tate came from the sugar magnate who funded the building of the original museum and also contributed much of his art collection.
In 1993 another provincial offshoot opened in Cornwall, Tate St. Ives in St. Ives, focused primarily on modern British art from the St. Ives School, and also operating the Barbara Hepworth Museum nearby.
Finally, the latest that opened in the former power station on Bankside in London, Tate Modern, is now the most well-known of the four.
Exhibits
Tate Liverpool shows selected works from the Tate's extensive collection of more than 70,000 pieces of modern art from around the world. Also on display is a collection of British art from 1500. Tate Liverpool also puts on themed temporary exhibitions.
Artworks in all media, including painting, sculpture, print, photography, film and video, plus installations and performance art can be seen. Furthermore, there is no major modern artist from around the world who is not represented in the collection.
The museum has activities specifically for kids, a shop, and hosts performances. The cafe has been redesigned by artist Peter Blake with a "dazzle" theme mirroring his decoration of the Mersey Ferry.
The museum is well worth a visit or a revisit when in Liverpool.
Other museums in Liverpool include The Beatles' Story, the International Slavery Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, Open Eye Gallery and the Museum of Liverpool.
Museum Access & Hours
Albert Dock
Liverpool L3 4BB
Tel: 0151 702 7400
www: www.tate.org.uk
Hours: Open 10 am to 5.50 pm every day.
Entry is free to the museum and permanent exhibition but charges apply to temporary exhibitions.
Access - Getting to Liverpool
Lime Street Station is Liverpool's main station with trains to Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and London Euston.
Lime Street's underground station has trains on the Wirral Line to Chester Station in Chester.
There are also connections from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport, Nottingham, Norwich, Sheffield, and also Manchester Oxford Road, First TransPennine Express trains also run to Leeds, Newcastle, Scarborough and York Station in York.
Take a #500 bus outside the station to Liverpool's John Lennon Airport, 8 miles south east of the city.
There are ferries from the ferry terminal just north of Pier Head and close to James Street Merseyrail station to the Isle of Man, Belfast and Dublin.
The Mersey Ferry crosses the River Mersey from Liverpool's Pier Head to the Seacombe terminal on the Wirral in just 10 minutes. Morning commuter services every 20 minutes from Seacombe terminal run 7.20 am-9.40 am with the evening commuter service from Pier Head beginning 5 pm and running until 6.40 pm.
Long distance National Express buses run nationwide from the bus station on Norton Street.
Hotels in the North West of England
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