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Liverpool Capital of Culture (UK)
ColinT2005-04-24 10:23:28
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"What's so special about Liverpool?" As a boy, with it being my hometown, I used to conclude, "Well, quite simply, a lot". Unfortunately not many outside the city would have agreed. It was a well-kept secret. But things have changed. Now everyone is in on the secret. It's a unique place.
In fact, it is so unique that it in July 2004 it was granted World Heritage status and has been designated the 2008 European Capital of Culture. Liverpool is now the most "happening" city in the UK. Its economy is growing at ten times the national average, and tourism is booming, with a new top-range hotel seemingly appearing on the scene every month. Liverpool now ranks with Edinburgh and Bath as the only UK cities to acquire World Heritage status.
World Heritage Sites are deemed to be places of "outstanding universal value". Liverpool won the heritage award because of its world-famous buildings, historic docks and cultural quarter, which houses the finest collection of civic buildings in the UK. The award was also based on Liverpool as a maritime mercantile city and reflected the city's significance as a commercial port at the time of Britain's greatest global influence.
I recently returned to my home city and my first stop was at the Maritime Museum, housed in a former bonded warehouse, and part of the historic Albert Dock on the banks of the River Mersey. It tells the story of one of the world's greatest ports and the people who used it, and its collections reflect the international importance of Liverpool as a gateway to the world, including the city's bloody role in the transatlantic slave trade and then later, emigration.
The Albert Dock near the city centre is a brilliant architectural triumph. Opened in 1846, it soon became home to precious cargoes from all over the world. Today redevelopment, costing in excess of 100 million pounds, has transformed it into one of Britain's
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See photographs from:
United Kingdom Gallery
