Walker and World Museum to reopen to visitors

The Walker Art Gallery and World Museum are due to reopen to the public this week.

The William Brown Street attractions, part of National Museums Liverpool, will welcome visitors from Wednesday after being shuttered for 17 weeks.

They will be open from 10am to 5pm on Wednesdays to Sundays.

Visitors will need to pre-book timed entry slots and what are described as ‘enhanced safety measures’ are being put in place with suggested routes through the buildings, hand sanitiser stations and enhanced cleaning of busy areas. Interactive touch points will be closed or removed.

The cafes and shops will take only contactless payments and food and drink will be for takeaway only.

The Linda McCartney Retrospective will now be staged at the Walker from August 8 to November 1, but World Museum’s AI: More Than Human exhibition, which was due to open this month, has been postponed until 2021.

Meanwhile the John Moores Painting Prize has been postponed from this summer until February 12.

World Museum Liverpool. Photos by Gareth Jones.

Top: Preparing the Walker Art Gallery for reopening.

NML director Laura Pye said: “This is an important moment for all of us at National Museums Liverpool as we’ve missed the interaction with our visitors and our collections.

“We are spaces of wonder, curiosity and inspiration, things which so many of us have missed during lockdown.

“While the measures we have in place will mean visits are not entirely back to normal, a lot of thought and planning has been put into place to enable visitors to enjoy their experience as much as possible, while staying safe.

“It’s an opportunity to appreciate our venues with more tranquillity, allowing our visitors to immerse themselves in the joy of arts and culture as respite and escapism from the current situation facing us all globally.”

General tickets will be available from tomorrow. To book free timed entry slots, visit the NML website HERE