Mary Rose gets �21m for new home

An artist's cut-away impression of the new Mary Rose museum

Final conservation work on Henry VIII's warship, the Mary Rose, is to go ahead, along with a new museum for the vessel, after a £21m grant was approved.

The Heritage Lottery Fund agreed to award the cash to the Mary Rose Trust, which has also raised nearly £10m itself towards total costs of £35m.

The grant means the construction of the new museum, in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, will now start.

The trust aims to complete the work by 2012, in time for the Olympics.

The museum will house the Mary Rose and its artefacts alongside Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory.

Temporarily withdrawn

The trust called the work "one of the most ambitious and significant heritage projects in recent years".

A spokesperson said: "Visitors are being urged to view the hull of the famous warship before she is withdrawn, temporarily, from view in the autumn.

"The existing Mary Rose Museum will remain open throughout the construction phase and the hull will be interpreted imaginatively within, including a new introductory film, enhanced displays and time lapse photography.

"Details are now being finalised to launch a public fundraising appeal for the final £4m next month."

Mary Rose sank after 34 years of service with the loss of more than 400 lives on 19 July 1545.

The hull of the Mary Rose was salvaged in 1982 and has been on display since.

The ship will continue to be sprayed with preserving polyethylene glycol, a water-based wax solution, until 2011 before being carefully dried for full display in 2016.

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