Revamped museum will 'bring Roman stories to life'

Roman stories will be "brought vividly to life" at a revamped visitor attraction in Leicester.

The Jewry Wall Museum in St Nicholas Walk, which features the remains of a Roman bath house, is set to be formally reopened on Saturday.

Work on the museum project, which cost £16.8m, started back in 2021 but was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the original contractors going bust, Leicester City Council said.

The museum includes new multimedia exhibits, interactive displays and more than 100 Roman artefacts discovered across Leicestershire.

On Saturday, Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby will cut the ribbon to open the museum and will be joined by musician Michael Levy, who plays the lyre, an ancient string instrument.

There will also be Roman re-enactors on site, with first admissions from 10:00 BST.

Mathew Morris, a project officer at the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), which has helped to develop some of the content at the new museum, said: "Leicester was an important regional administrative centre in Roman Britain.

"Artefacts found in the city reveal its extensive links with the wider Roman world, including the Mediterranean as far afield as Egypt."

The Grade II listed Jewry Wall Museum, which previously closed in 2017, and the former Vaughan College have been refurbished as part of the project.

Soulsby said: "Thanks to archaeological discoveries and interactive technology, the Jewry Wall Museum can reveal the public and private lives of the residents of Ratae Corieltauvorum like never before, telling their stories in new and compelling ways."

The museum's opening hours will be 10:00 to 16:00 from Sunday to Friday and 10:00 to 17:00 on Saturdays and bank holidays.

Phil Hackett, general manager of the Jewry Wall Museum, said the museum was "a bold reimagining of how we tell Leicester's Roman story".

"By combining powerful archaeology, local discovery and world-class technology, we've created an experience that's both deeply immersive and genuinely educational," he added.

Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.