LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.- The award-winning Conservation Centre in the heart of Liverpool’s city centre reopen to the public on 16 June 2006 with a new name, National Conservation Centre, reflecting its unique status. Home to a team of internationally-renowned conservators, National Conservation Centre cares for National Museums Liverpool’s huge and diverse collections and this new attraction will show how conservators use science to unlock the secrets hidden in objects. Visitors will be able to find out how to care for their own treasures by consulting conservators through the opinion service (by appointment only).

Following refurbishment the centre features Reveal - The Hidden Story of Objects, a brand new exhibition with a working science laboratory at its heart, a new temporary exhibition space and a dedicated learning resource.

This vibrant and contemporary gallery explores the memories that objects contain, shows how science reveals how they were made and how we can conserve them for the future. With a working laboratory at its centre, explainers, interactives and multi-media terminals enable visitors to investigate and understand the treasures of National Museums Liverpool.

Visitors can experience objects in virtual reality with ground-breaking technology, see how lasers are used to remove the dirt that damages our objects, have a go at rebuilding a broken statue or a Roman bowl and find out how an Egyptian mummy can be respectfully explored - without being touched.

The temporary exhibition programme will be launched with Street Life: Liverpool in Fashion, featuring the work of two photographers, Mark McNulty and Victoria Spofforth, commissioned to document fashion on Liverpool’s pavement catwalks. A display of future fashion fabrics and ‘smart materials’ will link the exhibition back to the Conservation Centre. This exhibition is a collaborative project between Liverpool Culture Company, Peppered Sprout and National Museums Liverpool.