The International Slavery Museum opens in Liverpool
Liverpool, European capital of culture 2008, inaugurated their brand new International Slavery Museum on the 23rd August 2007, as part of the festivities organised to celebrate the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. The city, that was at the heart of the triangular slave trade of the 18th century, shows its commitment and will to accept this darkest part of its past.
A new International Slavery Museum in Liverpool
As one of the principal British commercial ports, the city of Liverpool took an active role in the transatlantic commerce and made much of it's wealth out of it. In 1994, the National Museums Liverpool inaugurated a gallery (Transatlantic Slavery Gallery) dedicated to slavery, the first of its kin in the world. Very quickly, it took in record crowds. Today, the question of legacy of slavery having become more urgent given contemporary problems, National Museums Liverpool decided upon the creation of a museum dedicated to reminding us of the lessons of the past.
A dynamic and moving museum
Situated in Albert Dock, a UNESCO world heritage site, based in the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the museum underlines the important role played by the city in the triangular slave trade of the 18th century and intends to address the many questions relating to the impact of slavery on Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean and Western Europe. Implanted just a few hundred meters away from the dock where so many slave ships cast off, the International Slavery Museum spotlights both the historical and contemporary context of slavery.
A museum densely charged with the major questions of mankind
Planned in partnership with other museums across the world, the galleries retrace powerfully the history and the consequences of the slave trade on both sides of the Atlantic. With moving accounts, the trip raises the several major issues of freedom, identity, human rights, atonement, racial discrimination and the cultural transformation.
Janvier 2008
