St George's Hall new immersive experience brings history to life

A new immersive experience is being launched at St George’s Hall this month to help share the landmark building’s rich history with visitors.

The History Whisperer uses the latest technology to bring to life Liverpool in the 1850s and is a focal point of the new £250,000 St George’s Hall Experience.

It reveals how the Grade I listed building, opened in 1854, represented two sides of the Victorian port – from the grandeur of the public spaces like the Great Hall and Concert Room to the law courts and cells were prisoners waited ahead of their trials.

The attraction, created by a team of award-winning tech organisations, tells the story through the eyes of a child called Livie who finds herself all alone after her father is transported after completing work on the hall's construction, while her brother is in one of the building’s prison cells awaiting his fate.

Tickets for the immersive experience are just £1 for a limited time as what Hall bosses say is a way of giving something back to the people of Liverpool after the pandemic.

The St George’s Hall Experience has been made possible through a £250,000 grant from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.

The Great Hall with its magnificent Minton tiled floor

The companies involved in The History Whisperer and the St George’s Hall Experience are Gazooky Studios – a BAFTA and Prix Europa award-winning storytelling and world class XR technology company, Immersive Interactive – specialists in touch-wall interactivity, and Music in Mind – an industry leader in music and sound effects.

And the attraction’s new specially composed music has been recorded by the RLPO.

Head of Heritage Preservation and Development, Alan Smith, said: “St George’s Hall has always been an incredibly important part of Liverpool since it was built, and to this day it plays a role in important moments in people’s lives, whether it is hosting a wedding or by being the place you visit to register a birth, death or marriage.

“Now, using the latest technology, we’re able to bring alive the sights and sounds of the city’s past in a way that has never been done before, bringing a whole new dimension to the experience of visiting the building.

“It’s hugely exciting for us and is a key part of our determination to make sure the building is as relevant today as it always has been – a living, breathing part of life in the city.”

The History Whisperer is being launched on Friday, October 8. Tickets HERE