The Mary Rose is the world’s largest maritime archaeological excavation and conservation project and plans to provide a purpose-designed museum to display the warship are currently being studied by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Mary Rose Trust, which has responsibility for Henry VIII’s celebrated flagship, has used a development grant from the HLF to prepare the detailed project to create the new museum to be sited adjacent to HMS Victory in Portsmouth naval dockyard.
The full project will go before the Heritage Lottery Fund trustees in Summer 2009. It seeks to build the new museum ready for opening in April 2012, although the delicate conservation work on the ship’s timbers will not be completed until 2016 when the remains of the vessel can once again be exposed to full view.
The hull is the largest object currently undergoing polyethyleneglycol (PEG) preservation treatment in the world. Apart from the hull there are also some 19,000 artefacts recovered from the wreck. The plan is for the new museum to unite the ship and these items to provide a detailed cross-section of life and work on board ship at the dawn of the English navy in the mid 16th century.
The Trust is seeking a £19 million grant from the HLF to complete the museum project which would provide a major visitor and educational attraction.
Previously, the HLF has given several grants totalling £9.5 million for a range of conservation, development and planning activities as the 34-year conservation programme has unfolded.