1 January 2013Last updated at 09:36

In pictures: Portsmouth's new Mary Rose museum nears completion

Artist's impression of the new Mary Rose museum due to open in 2013

Thirty years after Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose was raised from the bottom of the Solent, a new museum specially built to house it is preparing to open its doors at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

The ship was launched in 1511 but sank in shallow water just beyond the entrance to Portsmouth harbour after 34 years of service. It was leading an attack on a French invasion fleet at the time and Henry VIII is said to have heard the screams of the drowning men as he helplessly stood and watched from Southsea Castle.

Some of the 19,000 items found on the seabed with the shipwreck

More than 400 people died when the Mary Rose sank on 19 July 1545. Only a handful of the crew and soldiers survived. Thousands of personal belongings were found in and around the wreck by divers and many will be on display in the new museum.

The site at the start of the building of the new museum in February 2010

Work on building the £35m boat-shaped museum began in 2010. The Heritage Lottery Fund has provided £21m for the project with the Mary Rose Trust finding the remainder.

How the site of the new museum looked on 29 October 2012, with the new building taking shape

No official date for the launch of the museum, which is next to Admiral Lord Nelson 's flagship HMS Victory, has been set but the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard said it was likely to open during the "early part of 2013".

When the new museum opens, the hull and many of the 19,000 artefacts that were raised with it, will be on display together in one building. Before they were housed in separate areas of the dockyard and most artefacts were held in storage.

The skeleton of a dog which sailed aboard the Mary Rose and died in the sinking

A female dog, named Hatch by museum staff, was discovered trapped in the sliding door of the carpenter's cabin. It was probably used as a ratter and was about two years old when it died. Tudor seafarers did not allow cats on board as they were thought to bring bad luck.

The instruments used by the ship's barber/surgeon

The instruments used by the barber, who was also surgeon, on board the Mary Rose will also be on display at the new museum.

Millions of people watched on television as the Mary Rose was raised on 11 October 1982. It had spent 437 years on the bed of the Solent and the salvage operation cost £4m.

The wreck has been sprayed with preserving polyethylene glycol, a water-based wax solution, for several years and is now drying out ready to go on display. The hull will be a "hotbox" with windows for visitors until 2016, when the conservation process will be complete and it goes on display in its entirety.

One of the guns being moved from the old museum to the new by crane through the roof

Some of the Mary Rose artefacts were easier than others to move. The large cannons had to be lifted out by a crane through the roof of the old museum.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight

In pictures: Portsmouth's new Mary Rose museum nears completion

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